We!
Are Undersiders
We’ll always save the day
And if you think we can’t
We’ll put bugs in your eye
That’s why the people of this world
Believe in
Regent, Tattletale
And Gruuue
AND SKITTER!
Tag: Steven Universe
Either I was stressing over something I’d done or something that had happened, I was concerned with the now, or I was anxious over what came in the future: distant or near. There was always something.
I guess you could say she felt…
tense?
By Pericardium. Hah! Well, at least it’ll… …tide her over.
“It’s not- don’t you understand? I don’t want to hurt people.”
Might be bad to say this. Now that is the thing to “fix”.
Now she might ask Amy to inflict pure pain, which we just had it confirmed that she can do.
“But we can change that! We’re not so different. You know as well as I do that anything about anyone can be changed if you work hard enough.”
…true. Within reason, I mean. There are some limitations as to what it can be changed to.
“Then why don’t you change? You could be good.”
Ooh, that’s an interesting angle to spin this. I like it.
“I like the other members of the Nine. And I couldn’t make anything really amazing if I was following rules. I want to make something even more amazing than Hack Job, Murder Rat or Pagoda. Something you and I could only make together. Can you imagine it? You could use your power, and then we could make one superperson out of a hundred capes, and all of the powers would be full strength because you helped and we could use it to stop one of the Endbringers, and the whole world would be like, ‘Are we supposed to clap’? Can you picture it?” Bonesaw was getting so excited with her idea that she was almost breathless.
I’m getting Steven Universe flashbacks.
I do like this idea that Bonesaw is not following the rules just so her tinkerish accomplishments can be unlimited by society’s ideas of right and wrong.
The idea of pitting this capeamari up against an Endbringer is also pretty cool – especially because while the idea of taking out one of them is something most people would consider good, that’s juxtaposed with the means and the motive (it doesn’t sound like she wants to take out an Endbringer for the sake of saving lives so much as for the sake of showing off how awesome her paracluster is).
“You mashed them together. Oni Lee and Hatchet Face.”
“Is water just hydrogen and oxygen mashed together?”
“When it’s like this? Yes.”
“Yes! I can’t even begin to tell you how hard it was. I mean, I had to conduct the operation from a remote location, using robots, because I would lose my Tinker powers if I got too close to the big lug.
Oh yeah, that must be an odd sensation. I mean, for a lot of other people, it’s just a matter of not being able to do a thing you usually can’t, but for a tinker? It must feel rather weird to suddenly not be great with technology, or able to figure out how to do these crazy things their specialties allow them.
And I had to fit their bodies and nervous systems together so that they could use their powers without messing up the other.”
I suppose she did manage to make the teleportation work out fine, even if the destruction of the clones got a bit messier.
“Oh god,” Amy mumbled. Is this what she’s going to do to me?
If she were to, whom would she mash you up with? Mark?
We the sneeple disavow all actions by Coil because seriously, screw that guy. I bet he watches dubs.
Coil watches dubs and subs simultaneously, in different timelines, getting audio in both languages and subs that don’t necessarily match the dub’s translation.
I always like to discuss the concept of sympathizing in writing. I’ve seen people who love it, I’ve seen even people who are scared of it, because they find it dangerous. Like it is somehow dangerous to humanize broken, damaged people. It is exactly what will help us reflect, as a race, I feel. Washing away social constructs requires you to understand them and, yes, even sometimes sympathize with terrible people. Its why I loathe tumblr’s constant hate parades against people sometimes.
Lets use a recent unnamed case for example. Lets say an artist is showing off his defensiveness towards pedophilia or being homophobic. You DO NOT solve this with indifference, but neither with pointing at their flaws or shoving hate and death threats, calling them names. You talk, you understand and you make them understand too. You take away the US vs. THEM mentality instead of fueling it.
Hell, its why pedophilia is such a problem anyways! Because we dont TALK about it, we shove it under a rug, we dont educate our children and we MEDICATE, arresting people who DO IT, instead of PREVENTING it, treating it like it is, a mental/psychological health issues, taking it out by the root. These people, all kinds, are outcasts and they know it. We bring them in instead of pushing them out, because we are oh-so-faulty on seeing the transition between person with problems to person causing problems. Taylor, and Worm, is itself a PERFECT character study for this.
Yeah, I agree with a lot of this.
This sort of thing is part of why I like shows like Steven Universe and MLP:FiM. They both make most of their villains sympathetic but misguided, broken people whose better sides can be brought out, and whose flaws can be mitigated, with a little help from people who care for them. It is a good thing to write your villains as people, in general, which was one thing I praised Interlude 11e for.
Yet, as you mention, it’s something I’ve heard of Steven Universe getting criticized for doing with the “big bads” of the show, even though it’d be straight up out of character for the show to not do it.
(Steven Universe is far better than MLP at executing this. The prevalence of the “evil switch” in major villains is one of MLP:FiM’s biggest flaws as far as I’m concerned, but the core idea is present and prominent.)
I do think it’s important to stay aware when you sympathize with these people, though. I can sympathize with Hookwolf, or Purity, or Coil, but I should keep in mind what sort of people they are while I do so.
Also, I personally think pedophiles are closer to the “person causing problems” end of the gradient, at least if they act on it in some way. Which does not require it going as far as actually having sex with a child. However, “bringing them in instead of pushing them out” might in some cases be a better solution. A lot of things should be treated on a case by case basis, and this might be one of them.
I solved it, guys.
Wildbow’s most well-guarded secret, the truth behind it all, the Deepest Lore of Worm.
It is all so clear to me now.
The mysteriousness. The goal to take control of local government. The snake motif.
Coil…
Is a snerson.
“This might be countered by Garnet’s future vision (the same way Tattletale seems immune or resistant to Imp’s power), or it might throw the future vision for a loop and make Garnet’s predictions less accurate.” Dinah’s future vision doesn’t seem to have any trouble with Tattletale.
Hm, that’s a good point, especially considering their variants of future vision are very similar.
It took almost five days, but I finally caught up! I just wanted to say I love your style for doing this, because I’ve never read Work before, and this way I get the full story along with the commentary, without any of the text being left out. I also have ADHD, so somehow reading the story in chunks like this makes it much easier to get through. Thank you! …Whoops, I need a question. Who do you think would win: The Undersiders or the Crystal Gems, with whichever team configurations you prefer?
I’m glad I could help! 😀
As for the question… Let’s see.
Steven Universe and Worm spoilers ahead.
The Gems have fairly basic powers, but they have a lot of them.
- Garnet: Fire resistance, future vision, shapeshifting, strength, toughness, weapon summoning (gauntlets),
rocket gauntlets, fistkind proficiency, gem bubbling, fusion, super jump, passive gravity adjustment,
weighted hair. - Ruby: Strength, passive heat manipulation, fire resistance, probably shapeshifting, weapon summoning (gauntlet),
gem bubbling(?), passive gravity adjustment,
fusion.
- Sapphire: Passive cold manipulation, future vision, probably shapeshifting,
gem bubbling(?),
passive gravity adjustment,
fusion.
- Amethyst: Shapeshifting with proficiency, spindash, weapon summoning (whip), electric whip, whip proficiency, gem bubbling,
passive gravity adjustment,
fusion, super jump.
- Pearl: Hammerspace (slow retrieval), weapon summoning (spear or sword), finesse, spear and sword proficiency, laser spear, allegedly shapeshifting, projections, summoning holographic duplicates with swordfighting capabilities, minor fog/cloud and sand manipulation, gem bubbling, fusion,
passive gravity adjustment,
super jump.
- Peridot: Toughness, metallokinesis (weak), gem bubbling,
passive gravity adjustment,
fusion(?).
- Steven: Weapon summoning (shield, throwable Captain America style), defensive bubble (optionally spiked), gem bubbling, fusion, healing spit, active gravity adjustment, ability to create sentient plants, resurrecting tears that bestow pink powers, dreamwalking, body hijacking.
-
Lion: Force shouts (similar to Triumph), creating portals, walking on water, mane portal to pocket dimension, cat.
- Connie: Fusion (with Steven), sword proficiency, being great.
(If the gems got Lapis to care, the Undersiders would be in some serious trouble. Her hydrokinesis is way stronger than Leviathan’s.)
And then we have the Undersiders:
- Skitter: Complete control of insects, arachnids and crustaceans within a range of 2-3 blocks (sometimes 4-6).
- Grue: Generation of gas-like substance that blocks light, muffles sound and provides minor resistance to movement.
- Tattletale: Superpowered Sherlock, constant influx of information based on what she’s looking at.
- Regent: Nerve manipulation, body hijacking (requires very slow process).
- Bitch: Empowering of dogs and wolves.
- Imp: Who’s Imp?
As we go into this, let’s start off with a very important question:
How does Grue’s darkness interact with beings made of hard light? It’s entirely possible that Grue could singlehandedly destabilize and poof everyone except Steven, Connie and Lion at once, and probably make Steven jittery too. After that, dealing with Steven and Connie shouldn’t be too hard, though Lion might still be an issue.
Let’s assume that isn’t the case from now on.
One other thing I feel is worth noting right away is that Regent’s power is probably of limited use. It is unlikely that Gems have nerves for him to manipulate. He could still affect Steven, Connie and probably Lion, though.
Apart from Peridot, the Gems are highly skilled melee fighters, and are generally tougher than humans. Among the Undersiders, Grue in particular is good at melee, and has been training some of the others, but he is probably nowhere near as well-trained as the superhuman war veterans. If the Undersiders want to win, they should avoid melee as much as possible. Even then, some of the Gems have decent ranged attacks too, with Garnet’s explosive rocket gauntlets, Pearl’s laser spear and Steven’s shield throwing.
However, Bitch’s dogs could cause the Gems a lot of trouble. Garnet might be able to pick one up and throw it, but even so. It certainly helps that Bitch has a lot of them these days – we’ve seen the Gems overwhelmed with sheer force of numbers before, by far weaker enemies (specifically watermelons). Unlike the watermelons, the hellhounds could easily poof most gems and maim or kill Steven and Connie. Lion might put up more of a fight against a single doggo, maybe three, but with the numbers Bitch has now, he’d be overwhelmed too.
Speaking of Garnet, her future vision is very powerful in combat, allowing her to predict the opponent’s next moves in advance. The closest counter to this is Tattletale’s power, but Tattle’s knowledge is far less reliable as far as predicting the enemy’s actions goes.
Tattletale is very good at manipulation. The Gems are good at not listening to people, but do have their sore spots, such as Amethyst’s feelings about herself as a defective gem, or Pearl’s past as a slave. Tattletale might find a way to use this to her advantage, if she can get the Gems to listen.
Imp might be highly useful. With the Gems forgetting her existence each moment, she could sneak up behind them with a piercing weapon, which has usually proven to be the most reliable way to poof a gem. This might be countered by Garnet’s future vision (the same way Tattletale seems immune or resistant to Imp’s power), or it might throw the future vision for a loop and make Garnet’s predictions less accurate.
Even if it doesn’t destabilize the Gems by itself, Grue’s darkness would probably be quite effective. Most of the Gems’ fighting relies on sight, both melee and ranged, and the darkness would take that away. Garnet’s future vision might help her, but the rest would quite literally be left in the dark.
Skitter’s power could probably take out Steven, Connie and maybe Lion quite easily. I doubt it would do much against the Gems, but at least it would let her track their locations and movements.
So far, the Gems have a chance, but the Undersiders have a slight upper hand. But that’s before we pull out one of the Gems’ most powerful tricks: Fusion.
- Sardonyx (Garnet+Pearl): Probably everything Garnet and Pearl can do, weapon merging (gauntlets+spear=hammer), considerable size, fourth wall breaking, 360 degree torso spin.
- Sugilite (Garnet+Amethyst): Probably everything Garnet and Amethyst can do, weapon merging (gauntlets+whip=flail), considerable size, toughness.
- Opal (Amethyst+Pearl): Probably everything Amethyst and Pearl can do, weapon merging (whip+spear=laser bow), considerable size, acrobatics.
- Alexandrite (Garnet+Pearl+Amethyst): Probably everything all of them can do, weapon merging (every combination), even more considerable size, fire breath, 360 degree torso spin, possibly other abilities of the previous three fusions.
- Smoky Quartz (Steven+Amethyst): Probably everything Steven and Amethyst can do (definitely including active gravity adjustment), weapon merging (shield+whip=yo-yo), strength, rapid spinning.
- Stevonnie (Steven+Connie): Probably everything Steven can do (minus active gravity adjustment and possibly shapeshifting), sword proficiency, Yoshi hover.
Fusion is incredibly versatile and can cause a lot of trouble for the Undersiders as some of their human-sized enemies become bigger and more powerful at the cost of numbers.
Surprisingly, this might be a thing for Tattletale to deal with. The fusions need to keep their state of mind focused on their task and on working together in order to remain stable. Tattletale, if she can get them to listen, would probably be able to manipulate some of the fusions’ component personalities and pit them against each other, causing the fusions to fall apart.
But until that happens, the fusions will have a much easier time dealing with threats like Bitch’s dogs or Grue’s darkness (by way of being tall enough to look over it, though he could adjust to that). Not to mention the fact that some of the fusions could squash all the Undersiders in a single attack, provided they were gathered together.
So I guess my conclusion is this:
Despite a large amount of powers for each member and numbers slightly on their side, the Crystal Gems might find themselves at least reasonably challenged by the Undersiders, if not necessarily defeated, and they might have to resort to fusions in order to beat them.
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