Steven Universe

About

Steven Universe is an American animated children's television series created by Rebecca Sugar that premiered on Cartoon Network in November 2013. The story centers around a group of alien rebels who protect the Earth, while Steven gradually learns how to use his gem power so he can play his part in protecting the world.^[8][9]

History

Before Rebecca Sugar creating Steven Universe, she worked as a storyboard artist for the popular animated TV show Adventure Time. On May 21st, 2013, the pilot for her new series, Steven Universe premiered on both her father's YouTube page and Cartoon Network (since removed).^[21] Shortly after it's premiere, people online began uploading reactions, indicating the date and release of the pilot. On May 24th, YouTuber RebelTaxi uploaded a review to more than 495,000 views (shown below, left), and on May 25th, YouTuber Matthew D. Cabrera uploaded a reaction to more than 100,000 views (shown below, right).

On November 4th, 2013, Steven Universe premiered in North America on Cartoon Network. The show's fifth season premiered on May 29th, 2017.

2017 New York Comic Con

On October 5th, 2017, a Steven Universe panel was held at the 2017 New York Comic Con, during which journalist Eric Thurm moderated a discussion with show creator Rebecca Sugar and Steven Universe voice actors Zach Callison, Michaela Dietz, Deedee Magno Hall, Grace Rolek and Tom Scharpling. During the panel, a sneak peek for upcoming episodes of the show was played on a projector screen (shown below).

During the panel, Thurm revealed that the show would be returning sometime "in winter." Additionally, Sugar peformed a cover of the upcoming Steven Universe song "Escapism" (shown below).

Reception

As of August 2017, Steven Universe gets an average score of 8.4 out of 10 from more than 14,000 users at IMDB^[6], an 8.8 from TV.com^[7], and a 4 out of 5 stars from Common Sense Media^[5]. The show is heavily praised for its charming art style, memorable soundtrack, and well-written plot and characters. The show is also remarked by several sources such as Emertainment Monthly^[22] and Elite Daily^[23] for bearing characteristics that are pro-social justice such as having the majority of its cast as female characters of varying personalities and body types.

Since its premiere, the show has been nominated for three Primetime Emmys.^[33]

Online Relevance

The show and its developers are well known for having close connections with its fans' online community. Keep Beach City Weird is a tumblr ^[18] blog run by the staff of the show that is meant to be owned by Ronaldo, one of the minor characters in the show, and thus is a roleplay blog. Various internet memes and subcultures have been referenced in Keep Beach City Weird such as Otakus and Furries. Steven Crewniverse is another tumblr^[19] blog run by the staff, but yields behind-the-scenes content such as storyboard images and soundtrack. Matt Burnett, a writer for the show, owns a Twitter ^[20] account where he freely converses with fans regarding questions about Steven Universe. Similarly, Rebecca Sugar has her own Twitter^[26] account where she frequently tweets about the show's behind-the-scenes, and a tumblr^[27] account where she blogs sketches, promotional material, fanmade and official soundtracks.

The rising popularity of the show caught the attention of the creators of Equestria Daily, a famous fan-news site for the animated TV show My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. On March 13th, 2015, the site announce that a fan-news site for Steven Universe made by them will be launching soon^[10]. The news have brought about mixed reactions -- mostly negative -- from the different fandoms involved, thus prompting Equestria Daily writer Calpain to tweet about cancelling the Steven Universe fan-site.

However, on June 12th, 2015, Calpain has announced that Beach City Bugle, the newly given title of the Steven Universe fan-site, has been launched, regardless of what he or those that oppose the fansite said in the past.^[16]

After the end of 2015, Tumblr's official 2015 Year In Review blog listed the Most Reblogged Animated TV Shows of the year. Steven Universe ranked as the most reblogged animated TV show of 2015, with Gravity Falls coming in second place and third being The Legend of Korra.^[25] Shortly afterwards, Rebecca Sugar made a short video thanking tumblr (shown below). The post on the Crewniverse blog garnered 93,525 notes.^[28]

As of August 29th, 2016, Steven Universe has consecutively ranked as the number one most popular show on the site, and as a TV show in general not just as an animated show.^[30]

Fandom

The Steven Universe fanbase has grown into a large community. As mentioned above, Beach City Bugle is a Steven Universe fan-site that showcases submitted fan-art, stories, music, and news regarding all things Steven Universe.^[17] Additionally, the Lunar Sea Spire is another Steven Universe fan-site that is more dedicated to news and updates regarding the show and Crewniverse^[24]. As of August 2017, the official Facebook page currently has more than 2 million likes;^[13] DeviantArt has more than 200,000 results tagged with the show's title;^[1] and Fanfiction.net has roughly 2,100 works for Steven Universe.^[2]

On November 11th, 2013, Rebecca Sugar launched the /r/StevenUniverse subreddit.^[3] Within four years, the site had more than 100,000 subscribers. Steven Universe has a very active tag on Tumblr^[4], sporting multiple blogs that have dedicated themselves to deviations of the show such as gifs and fan art. A Steven Universe Wiki^[11] exists and it currently has 675 pages in it. The wiki currently has a built-in timer that countdowns until the next episode airs. A Steven Universe general thread has the third most posts in the Western Animation category of the TV Tropes forums at 40,547 posts, behind The Legend of Korra and My Little Pony Friendship is Magic.^[29]

Fan-Art

Cosplay

Beach City Con

About three years after the show's debut, Saga Event Planning began planning a high-budget Steven Universe fan convention called Beach City Con.^[31] The group is known for hosting the annual Ice and Fire Con, a fan convention dedicated to the hit book and tv series Game of Thrones and has set for the Beach City Con Event to transpire on October 13-15th, 2017 in Virginia Beach. The Kickstarter for the con managed to reach its fundraiser goal in under one hour and has tripled that amount in under five days.^[32]

Related Memes

Fusion

Fusion is an ability Gems can perform in Steven Universe. In the show, Gems can physically merge their bodies to become a larger gem that is often used as both a recreational activity and a weapon. Online, images of fused, conjoined and meshed subjects are captioned with quotes from the show pertaining to fusion such as "So This is what Homeworld thinks of fusion" and "Fusion is Just a Cheap Tactic to Make Weak Gems Stronger" among other quotes (examples below).

Homeworld Gems

Homeworld Gems is a collective name for the major antagonist in Steven Universe, namely: "Lapis Lazuli," "Peridot" and "Jasper" (additionally, the fusion between Lapis Lazuli and Jasper, Malachite, is also included). Albeit making appearances in the show at most only four episodes in the entire duration of the first season, the characters received positive feedback from the fans and has inspired multiple fan-art.

Gem Nicknames

Gem Nicknames are humorous aliases given by the fandom to the gems that have appeared on the show. Almost all characters have their own aliases (most of which have 'mom' at the end, even if the character is male,) but the most prominent characters are Pearl, Garnet, Peridot and Jasper, who have been dubbed Bird Mom, Square Mom, Space Dorito, and Big Buff Cheeto Puff, respectively (google search results are displayed below). The nicknames may have originated from a large vandalism attempt on the Steven Universe Wiki which had the names of the characters switched out.

Gemsonas

Gemsonas is a term used to refer to the OCs (Original Characters) of the Steven Universe Fandom, but the term Gemsona has become popular in the fandom and has thus given Steven Universe OCs more depth and exclusivity compared to other OCs. Gemsonas, much like the Gems in the show, are non-binary (neither male nor female, regardless of how much they appear to be one gender or the other,) represents a certain mineral, and carries their own unique weapon.

A blog dedicated to receiving and showcasing Gemsona fan-art exists and is currently active^[12]. The blog Keep Beach City Weird, a tumblr blog run by the creators of Steven Universe, made another reference to Gemsonas in one of their posts. In this case, the 'Hobosona' is an original character for the in-universe fictional book, The No Home Boys.^[15]

The term was used by the show itself in the episode "Say Uncle," the fourth episode of the second season and the crossover episode where Steven Universe meets Uncle Grandpa, another upcoming show from Cartoon Network Studios.^[14]

Sneople

Sneople, a portmanteau of the words “snake” and “people”, refers to a race of reptilian humanoids mentioned in an episode of the animated television series. In April 2015, the term was popularized on Tumblr along with other portmanteaus, including “snurch” (snake + church), sneeple (snail + people) and sneme (snail + meme).

Stronger Than You

Stronger Than You is a song written by Rebecca Sugar and sung by Garnet (Estelle). As the climax of the season finale, the song has inspired fans to create remixes, instrumentals, covers, and fan art based on it.

Uncomfortable Steven Face

Uncomfortable Steven Face is a reaction face featuring a still image of the protagonist Steven wearing an awkward, confused facial expression in an episode of the animated television series. As it is used in the show as a reaction after a bad pun, likewise is its usage online.

Yellow Diamond's Neck

Yellow Diamond's Neck refers to the fad of exaggerating the neck of Yellow Diamond, the biggest threat and major antagonist in the show as of the first two seasons. the fad originated from leaked screencaps of Yellow Diamond in future episodes, who was then perceived by the fandom to have a neck much longer than originally anticipated. Such expectations can be sourced from the Official Extended Intro of the show, where Yellow Diamond's neck was noticeably shorter.

Search Interest

External References