[ SECRET POST #3530 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3530 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.



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02.


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03.
[Peridot, Jasper,and Lapis Lazuli from Steven Universe]


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04.
[Mr Max the Cockatoo (https://www.youtube.com/user/angeleyedboidan)]


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05.
[Criminal Minds, Spencer Reid, Diana Reid]


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06.


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07. [SPOILERS for Stranger Things]






















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 00 secrets from Secret Submission Post #504.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

03. http://i.imgur.com/GUluTZO.png
[Peridot, Jasper,and Lapis Lazuli from Steven Universe]

Transcript by OP

[fscom]

I REALLY don't like these three. I don't care about them. I don't buy Peridot's redemption. I don't think Lapis's response to events is well written. I don't want Jasper to be a regular cast member. Their designs are badly done compared to the Crystal Gems. Their characterization is boring or makes no sense. Peridot is my least favorite character in the whole show because she is the Homeworld gem that takes up the most screentime. I suspect this means I'm biased in a "bitch eating crackers" type of way because it's unlikely that the creators just fail every time they touch them.

[(Anonymous)]

Bless you, child. Peridot is easily in my top five most annoying characters I've ever come across.

I'm pretty ambivalent on the other two, but a redemption arc for Jasper would be sooooo boooooriiiiiing and I can't figure out why anyone wants it. Antagonists exist! Bad people exist. That's great! We don't need literally everyone sitting around holding hands singing Kumbaya.

[erinptah]

Peridot is tiring. I don't mind her episodes, in moderation, but try to filter her out of my fandom experience as much as possible.

Some reasons people want a redemption arc for Jasper:

(a) She's never been just Evil For Evil's Sake. She's running on her own code of ethics. People like for that kind of character to at least come to a cautiously-respectful understanding with The Heroes.

(b) She has a lot of angst and grief, especially now that we know about who she lost in the war. People like it when characters who are hurting get comforted.

(c) If the CGs really want to be safe in the long run, they have to either shatter all the enemy Homeworld Gems, or win them over. Winning them over is the better endgame -- and, between Bismuth and the Cluster, it's definitely the one the narrative prefers. Jasper is probably a pretty good representative of Homeworld's warrior castes in general, in which case, gaining her sympathy is the training-wheels version of that endgame.

(d) Brawny, muscular female(ish) characters are incredibly rare. People who love them really want to see more of this one.

[(Anonymous)]

Nayrt
So... basically, she's the very definition of a lawful evil character. Why can't she stay lawful evil? I get your other points, but I'm tired as well of every single antagonist turning into a Steven loving fluff ball.

[erinptah]

Nah, Lawful Evil is for characters who like a well-ordered system because they can exploit it, in order to do things like hurt people or gain power at the expense of others. Abusive cops, for instance, are lawful evil.

Jasper doesn't want to support the system because it gives her a framework in which to abuse anyone, she wants to support it for its own sake. That's Lawful Neutral, if anything.

I don't want her to be a fluffball, and haven't had much contact with other fans who want that, either. There's no reason she can't keep being a big tough growly brawler, who just happens to be punching on the side of the reformers now.

[(Anonymous)]

That's... not any way close to any definition of lawful evil I've ever heard.

[erinptah]

Wikipedia, citing Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook. (3rd ed.), defines it as the following:

"A lawful evil character sees a well-ordered system as being easier to exploit and shows a combination of desirable and undesirable traits. Examples of this alignment include tyrants, devils, and undiscriminating mercenary types who have a strict code of conduct."

And d20 SRD includes phrases like this:

"A lawful evil villain methodically takes what he wants within the limits of his code of conduct without regard for whom it hurts. He cares about tradition, loyalty, and order but not about freedom, dignity, or life.

[...] he depends on order to protect himself from those who oppose him on moral grounds.

[...] Some lawful evil people and creatures commit themselves to evil with a zeal like that of a crusader committed to good. Beyond being willing to hurt others for their own ends, they take pleasure in spreading evil as an end unto itself."

All of which sounds awfully close to "characters who like a well-ordered system because they can exploit it, in order to do things like hurt people or gain power at the expense of others."

[feotakahari]

I need more characters like Peridot. A lot of fantasy writers think of logic and people who use logic as the enemy in one form or another, and they depict characters who think logically as ignorant and shortsighted. Peridot's a heavily flawed character, but she's at least allowed to be logical without that being a bad thing.

As for Lapis, the most I can say about her is that no character I have ever written is as complex as her. Take that in whatever sense you will.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree completely with all of this

[morieris]

Understandable tbh

[(Anonymous)]

I find Lapis' resistance to giving a shit entertaining, but I don't get the rabid fanbase for the homeworld gems.

Ever since I read Rebecca's perspective on Jasper in an interview I've had more sympathy for her:

Jasper is very different than Peridot and Lapis. Unlike them, she has a deep hate for herself because of her origins on Earth. She is determined to never be weak or vulnerable. So at the point when she’s the lowest, there’s no way she’d ever accept help, because she believes she doesn’t deserve it.

Peridot and Lapis both believed they deserved better than what happened to them, but not Jasper. She went back to Earth to face her demons, and she lost. She’s consumed by her own self pity.

(from: http://www.thewrap.com/steven-universe-creator-rebecca-sugar-talks-lgbt-themes-teases-season-3/)

[(Anonymous)]

Same. I hope Jasper comes back soon somehow, she's one of the most intresting characters on the show tbh.

[(Anonymous)]

I like Peridot (though her redemption arc bores me kinda) just fine and I like the idea of Jasper (I wish they would have her do more than speak in cliches everytime she's on screen though) but I SOOOOO agree that Lapis is badly written. Like, its baffling to me how inconsistent and poorly done her character is.

[erinptah]

Eh, Lapis makes perfect sense as a character who's been through some trauma and is really at a loss for how to deal with it. She does some angry lashing-out for a while, but it doesn't make her feel better, just does a number on her self-worth. Finally she decides she doesn't want to be that person, but doesn't have a lot to work with when it comes to rebuilding her life, and has to be coaxed into believing that things like "new friendships" are worth it.

It's a little disorienting that she apparently went through a bunch of development offscreen by the last time we saw her, but it's the kind of development you would hope for at this point. (Finding hobbies! Learning to enjoy life again! Getting to relax and have some cooldown time instead of being in the middle of a hot mess of trauma!)

[(Anonymous)]

Okay but its all happening off screen is terrible from a writing perspective, and imo, a cop out. I get that they are trying to show how she's a trauma survivor and how she's dealing with that, but its not well done imo.

[(Anonymous)]

You really... don't sound very smart. And I don't just mean because you can't tell when to use "it's" instead of "its."

[(Anonymous)]

neither do you so itssssssssss a toss up I guess

Also I just don't care about proper punctuation on the internet cause I don't have a stick up my ass

[(Anonymous)]

How can you doubt Peridot's redemption? She sings a song and everything.

[diet_poison]

I don't care very much about Lapis (outside of a few isolated Cool Moments), but I really like Peridot as a protag and Jasper as an antagonist.

I can see why Peridot at least would be annoying, though. I like her, but she has a particular style that could be grating.

I do prefer the designs overall of the original Crystal Gems, though Jasper's design is cool to me and fits her personality well.

[(Anonymous)]

I can't stand Peridot and her rabid batshit fanbase tbh.

[(Anonymous)]

I like Jasper as a villain and Lapis as an anti-hero. They're not likable like the protagonists, but I think they're good characters (and in Lapis' case, very sympathetic).

Peridot is pretty annoying, I'll give you that.