In Defense Of Steven Universe Future... 

I think it's more accurate to say it chose to focus on storylines which weren't necessary within those 20 episodes. Stevens mental health mainly, look, I have mental health issues i respect them trying to cover the topic but at the end of the day, it was a show to resolve the plotholes and issues left by the old one, and by making Stevens problems the focus it takes away from that aspect of what future was trying to be and makes it feel rushed.

If it was given at least 30 episodes mainly focusing on Steven's mental health problems the season could've been better.

@@threeguysandagirlinabeachhouse Agreed but i still feel everything we needed couldnt be captured in 20 episodes ngl- if they had a nice balance of stevens mental health and loose end resolution the series wouldve been nicer (and longer). devastated by how many characters were missed because of the short time it had :(

Probably could've done with less filler episodes.

Still their fault, even with so Little time they decided to make unimportant to the overall plot episodes

why you're easy to please

Agreed, I have some struggles with my emotions because I grew up in a house where we weren't really taught how to regulate them, specially negatives ones, and sometimes when it gets too much I have the tendency to "explode" generally any negative emotions I have manifest as anger and I end up saying stuff that hurt the people around me, I'm working on it now but back when future came out I still had difficulty admitting I had a problem, so seeing a character I grew up with show similar reactions to mine (although his anger manifested in a physical way while mine was vocal) was refreshing and at the same time it made me feel seen it was kinda of a wake up call, so as much as this show has flaws it still has a very special place in my heart

@@legojarjarbinks2564 ?

@@legojarjarbinks2564 why are you such a clown?

@@legojarjarbinks2564 Why can’t you let people enjoy things?

What are you trying to say 🤔

@@thatrandomredengine9430 they are trying to say that they are finally giving this show some actual honesty and valid critism compared to most..other channels

@@mrinsomniac2968 finally? You sure we’ve been watching the same videos? Cause I know a lot of critics on Steven Universe, or are you harping on this one because they don’t say the show is complete dog water? Cause if that were the case, then it sounds like somebody is a little bit bias.

@@thatrandomredengine9430 More often than not, people who are overly critical of the series get simple facts wrong, miss entire plot points or moments of character development, and otherwise just put on blinders to make a point. This video touches on it briefly, even. 90% of the criticism I see for this series comes from people that didn't even watch the damn thing.

@@Ferrochrome12 give me examples, and don’t say Lily Orchard cause we all know.

Thank you SO much for this comment!!! So much of the SUF criticism comes from people who don't seem to understand the true depth of disorders such as PTSD, and who seem to exclusively attribute Steven's [self] destructive behaviour to bad writing, which imo is a very unfair and ignorant basis to bash a show for. I'm not trying to say SUF is perfect, but it just feels like a lot of the criticism seems to be misunderstanding its point, or just plain trying to hate on it for the purpose of hating. As a fellow PTSD-haver (for lack of a better term) I'm really, really glad that there are more people who are able to empathize with Steven and his response to unhealed trauma (if that makes sense). Sending lots of love!!

Thank you for sharing your experience. I 100% agree.

Damn c-ptsd? What happened? Are you ok? What'd your parents do to you? Whatever they did I'm sorry that happened to you... And I've dealt with trauma before it sucks

thanks please be well can relate although no ptsd but still good luck dealing with it

As someone with minor PTSD, I completely agree

maybe if they didnt rely on filler episodes they wouldve had time, the show is outright terrible there is no justification

@@bfbfan12what about adventure time or regular show? If you don’t like those either then Fine sure. But if you watch either of those 😳

​@@anthealea1869 but their filler actually pays off, all that filler and I still don't like/don't care about most of the townies

@@bfbfan12 to be fair the reason the filler was there was to give them time to create the main story based episodes. that's what I've come to realize anyway. a lot of shows use filler when working on larger episodes or to give fans a break between serious plots to give us a breather. but some of the filler in SU was a bit lacking. It was at least good for the world building on earth at times.

@@bfbfan12 I disagree. Yeah a few townie episodes were totally unnecessary, but most of them had a purpose.

Yeah but that doesnt warrant how Steven grow up to be worse than he was before, if anything he should be better since he literally stopped the diamonds tyranny by seeing the best in people. Kid always been positive despite all the struggles he went through but suddenly he cant cope with that anymore because the show needed drama ? the original series already had dramas with Steven not having a fucking mental break down every 5 minutes, whats even more is that he always been this passive person even during the movie with his fight with Spinel, he wasnt fighting her back, instead he was just blocking and dodging her attacks. In SU Future he's the one who issued a fight with Jasper and even insulted her to her face. Thats not how progression works. Dude has no self awareness that he almost ruined someone's relationship becausee he cant bear to see his friends moving on and growing up as a person WHICH SOMETHING HE IS SUPPOSED TO BE DOING IN THE SHOW. And then we also have to harp on Pink diamonds death, Rebecca sure love to pull Pink diamons dead corpse just to create drama and tension

Yeah I agree in a way but It makes sense that hes feeling some of these feelings now instead of then. For one he has been going through so much trauma so fast he hasn't really had a break to even cope or think about how he really feels like in a year he had almost died felt like he almost killed his friends always gets compared to his mom either how great she was or how terrible then comes to find out oh wow my mom was pink diamond then he has to deal with all that shit too its way to much for any one person to deal with so fast. And now that the universe is safe and people are growing apart it would make sense for steven to feel not needed all he really did was help people help the town help the gems but with people doing things on their own now and no more bad guys to fight really he feels unwanted doesnt even know what to do anymore so in all honesty it makes sense he'd be having break downs every 5 minutes. But I feel like that all could've been changed if they did make the show a bit happier like we arent watching this magical show to feel something we're probably already feeling depressed no we watch things to escape from that and I think the show would've been much better if it was jsut a simple slice of life show about what steven is doing and him being his normal happy understanding self like its ok for him to be upset and go through things alone but in the show they did make it felt like they were making him go through even more rough stuff and making him be a bad person just to turn him into that monster just to help all the other people hes helped realize shit they never did anything for him and thats not a good reason to make a show. So should've just ended it after the movie.@@socriabbas454

so steven isn allowed to have his traumas manifest anymore??? cuz it happens irl. ofc it could happen to him cuz hes been through intergalactic war. ​@@socriabbas454

​@@socriabbas454That's literally how repressing emotions work. A lot of kids repress emotions through their childhood because they're literally told to by adults (examples: "stop crying, just suck it up already", or "he never cries, he's so well behaved"), and when they start growing up those repressed emotions come back stronger. The more you push your emotions down, the more they'll push back, and Steven was pushing back his emotions for SIXTEEN YEARS. Fucking god, i'm so sick of seeing people who don't have even the basic understanding of childhood trauma or phsycology trying to bitch their opinion about it.

I get that this is valid criticism, but I feel like there is more nuance to it. As someone who has felt responsible for their family's feelings for a long time, sometimes you feel like you don't deserve to call them out, because they're your family and they love you (no matter how much they hurt you). I'm at a point in my life where I'm learning to stablish boundaries and call out people when they hurt me, but at the time I felt represented by Steven. I guess being able to do that depends on personality? Who knows, if Carton Network hadn't cut short the show, we might had gotten to see that part of his journey were the gems got to apologize or have an honest conversation about all the pressure they put him through.

The Garnet thing is a hard disagree. They didn't drag Steven into it and it's not in his place to be angry over someone literally feeling as if they got used. That was one of the dumbest and most selfish lines I've ever seen from him. If he's allowed to have a whole temper tantrum and destroy shit because he hates hearing about abuse victims, then I think Garnet can just be mad about being borderline SAd for a day :^)

Fair points here from each of you guys. I just wish SOMETHING they had put him through had been brought up to them. I mean again, Pearl literally almost got him killed. Caretaker or not, I feel as though something like that definitely should’ve been brought up.

I remember being so mad when Pearl didn’t do anything to help steven in roses scabbard - he could have died and we just see her looking at him hanging from below doing nothing about it. She was unstable but no reason to leave him there.

yeah, valid

*a wild dorito has appeared*

I didn't thought I'd see you here

Fax peridot

@cartooncatisthebest tldr they literally explained in the show the effects of trauma on mental health and people who don't understand that basically didn't pay attention to the message of the show

Plus, some of the people mad are mad that Steven is no longer that all positive kid he used to be back in previous seasons. I love Future though, because for once we're seeing a representation of depression and ptsd that isn't glamorized for the audience to "easily digest". The wrath, the outbursts, the mental breakdowns, the panic attacks, the feeling of dread, etc. I don't usually see people explore these kinds of things in their stories. So it felt so validating to see it represented here

Look people can say what they want about a show and just because they hate the show doesn’t mean that you have to get all defensive about it. My favorite movie is minions and my least favorite is Spider-man into the spiderverse yet I don’t get defensive when people tell me my opinion is wrong yet I still will voice my opinion. There is a difference from voicing an opinion like most people do when they say they hate Steven universe and being defensive which is what you and this guy are doing.

@@kirbystar7474 I'm not being defensive- if anything from my perspective your comment sounds a lot more defensive, getting mad at me for liking something you didn't. (Regardless if you intended that.) Because I never said people weren't allowed to have personal preferences, only that I found it refreshing to see it be shown in a positive light! Especially when the show is given more hate than deserved considering a lot of it comes from people who either haven't actually seen it, watched one episode and decided to stop,(I have a friend who did this, doesn't mean I think they're wrong to be put off from something and just decide not to continue and despite me enjoying it I didn't push them to) or cite misplaced nitpicks as the main reason they dislike it. Personally I think Spiderman Spiderverse is a pretty good movie (probably not my favorite though) and the minions movie (I've only seen the first) sucked ass, but if kids like it I'm not gonna rant at them about how their favorite movie sucks, even if it's objectively bad. Because there are people who can find enjoyment in it, even if I don't, and if you like it while I find it obnoxious I'm not going to get mad about it or anything lol. You seem to have misunderstood my comment because I 100% agree people can like or dislike whatever they want. I just don't agree that people who like a show like SUFuture deserve to shamed about it, because from a purely critical and objective standpoint, SUF isn't awful. Minions isn't complete garbage in a similar sense, but I can still dislike it and not shame you for enjoying it. (Regardless of if it's more founded than hate on SUF or not.) The guy making this video wasn't saying anyone had to like it if they didnt, he only wanted to voice and point out a lot of the unfounded vitriol surrounding it based on misconstrued nitpicks and not actual valid critiques. Because there is a lot of things people parrot about it that just isn't true from a purely factual standing. And those talking points, if anything, ARE worth defending and there's nothing wrong with that. I liked his video and think he made a lot of sense. You shouldn't get riled up just because someone has a different opinion on something of you, especially of it's something this harmless. You'll only upset yourself.

@@jaistraw But like I said he and you’re saying that most of the critiques are either from people who haven’t watched it, are misconstrued nitpicks, or aren’t valid yet that is from your opinion on whether they are valid which a lot of them like the diamonds not deserving no punishment and before you say they couldn’t bismuth got punished and so did bluebird, Steven’s mental health was really acknowledged when he started having his powers acting up instead of just when you listen to him, have had characters like Greg be inconsistent like how Greg went from a amazing father to a horrible one in one episode, Steven has been bad to his friends like how he didn’t tell the gems what happened with bismuth even though they said they would talk about what happened with bismuth instead bismuth got bubbled which is apparently horrible, and the show has been championed for subpar representation at best with having their main lgbtq characters be monogendered aliens but now with shows like owl house doing what Steven universe did millions of times better people have acknowledged Steven universe’s representation was bad representation. Look I agree no one should be ashamed for liking a show unless it’s saying slavery, murder, and being racist is ok but a lot of people have sent death threats to people who made videos about how Steven universe was a bad show and that isn’t excusable no matter how much you love a show.

@@kirbystar7474 Dude.. again, you're misunderstanding my comment completely and putting words in my mouth I never said. I didn't say "most" people have used the incorrect info/nitpicks to bash the show and folks for liking it, I said a lot. Not most. *A lot*. Which is true, not simply opinion. And again, I *never* said all critiques were invalid. In fact I specifically said that there WERE flaws, and I agree with a lot of the valid critiques! But that still doesn't stop me from loving the show. Literally all I said was it was nice to see someone making a video pointing out the flaws in certain arguments and looking at things from a more positive angle! You're projecting me as having certain opinions that not only do I not have, but I also never said anything to so much as suggest I did. Again; *misunderstanding and twisting my words.* Though maybe that's because you copypasted part of another comment I saw you made and that's why what you just said doesn't line up with what I was saying and my reply to you. While that would explain it, It's still not an excuse though. If you're going to try and pointlessly argue about something that we clearly both partially agree on at least don't be lazy. And as far as those critiques you just mentioned, some of those are opinion based yourself. I'll give examples: Greg and Steven's character and actions did not change out of nowhere. Greg was always a great dad, but he DID fail in some aspects and while it was never his intention, he did neglect Steven in ways due to his own abuse and upbringing. Steven was "only taken seriously" after his powers (Which may I remind you are emotion based and highly metaphorical, though perhaps not the best as being metaphorical/symbolic of them in a functional sense) started acting up because up until that point Steven had been bottling things up and displaying similar behaviors his whole life on a smaller scale and that's oftentimes how the loved ones of people going through similar emotional/mental turmoil behave as well. I know from PERSONAL experience the lengths people can go to to ignore or be in denial of a loved one's distress and issues. That, in my opinion, was good writing and representation of such topics. Not perfect, but the parts you cited specifically weren't bad writing. It's not bad writing if you have to look at the context, in fact that's good writing building on previously shown behaviors. (This in specific, of course. Not all of SU has good writing and I will be the first to admit such.) And.. as far as the whole lgbtqia+ representation goes.. I'm not even sure where to start. From your words I have to assume you either are purposely ignorant or have terrible memory. Lgbt representation like seen in The Owl House IS in fact better, but I'd argue it has Steven Universe in part to thank for that! The fact that you would compare the representation in these two shows is SO disrespectful to the crew of BOTH of said shows, as well as the community as a whole! Back when SU was airing, it was nearly unheard of to have ANY form of representation that wasn't meant to be pointed and laughed at. I was there, when SU made leaps and bounds in pushing the boundary of what could be shown for representation in cartoons and animation. ESPECIALLY in animation meant for younger audiences. Steven Universe was one of the first shows to do this to such extent, and they had to fight tooth and nail for the bare minimum, but were STILL censored. SU walked so shows like TOH could run. This is why they had to tone things down, were FORCED to tone things down so they could show even the bare minimum of their gay space rocks. The gems are on paper "genderless", sure, but at the time it's pretty obvious they're supposed to be coded/representative as a largely female or feminine displaying species. And the main crystal gems all go by she/her, display as feminine, etc. If they weren't "monogendered" or whatever you said there's next to no way any of the representation attempted would be possible. Disregarding everything Rebecca and her crew achieved and tried because of that comes across as SO ignorant it hurts. They did what at the time was thought to be the impossible, and to much greater extent than probably should have been. It's only thanks to them and shows similar to SU that TOH could pull off their almost equally great lengths in progress towards better representation in animation. Well, that, and the fact that TOH comes from a bigger company like Disney that could afford to make exceptions and experiment with that. Even so, invalidating SU's representation because it's not up to your standard based on constraints forced upon the creators is a huge insult considering what they went through to achieve what they did. That was my biggest gripe, however I agree, the handling if the diamonds wasn't good at all. But I still love SU. I've watched literally dozens of reviews and critique videos on SU over the years. And I agreed with a LOT of the points on it's flaws. But I always walked away with no less love for the show. You aren't changing how I feel about it, if that's what you're trying to do. Trying to pressure me into disliking something because YOU dislike it isn't going to get you anywhere. SU was always the show that meant the most to me, and I have yet to find another show since which compares to my fondness for it. I will always remember it as such, flaws and all. But just because something is flawed does bot make liking it or the work itself inherently bad. And finally.. really? Death threats? You are going to sit there and suggest I at ANY POINT stated I support ANYONE SENDING death threats to anyone else? How far must you reach to demonize someone for *harmlessly liking* something? I have never in my life sent anything RESEMBLING a death threat, and quite honestly I am shocked you would include something that has so little to do with the topics at hand. You think I would EVER in my life excuse sending someone death threats for disliking a show? This is by far the most ridiculous thing I've heard from you. Which, with everything else in mind, is saying a lot. And guess what? Despite this point of yours having nothing to do with anything else, I will counter it with this: you can say people have sent death threats for disliking the show, but the fact that people have ALSO sent death threats, bullied and shamed people for liking the show is equally if not moreso shocking, but I've seen it. Neither is excusable, and I never said it was. Nice try, pal. You seriously have no idea how disgusted I am that you would use *that* of all things to try and demonize a whole group of people for simply holding a different opinion to you.. I am at a loss of words. So, to reiterate: along with other words you're trying to put in my mouth I *never* said SUF was perfect. You can clearly see that in my very first comment. And to be honest, I think I'm done talking to you. You have consistently attempted to twist my words and assume my opinions that were never stated. Not only that, you are perpetuating long-debunked falsities and disregarding the history of representation in animation which I simply cannot excuse. If you insist on refusing to look at context, I'm afraid this conversation was doomed from the start. There is no point talking to you if you will continue to disrespect me, basic logic, and entire communities of people. I have no patience for that and I sincerely hope you take some time yourself to cool off and think about *why* exactly you feel the need to argue on points we already agree on. That will be all.

@@kirbystar7474 "you dont have to get defensive if someone doesnt like it" -proceeds to get defensive about someone saying they LIKE something and not being defensive while saying it. imagine getting mad not at someone saying they hate something but saying they LIKE something harmless. then complaining about THEM being defensive. even though you were the first to get defensive. how convoluted your logic must be.

i had a shitty patchy but full ish beard at 16

Bro this kid in my class grew a beard at only 13 years old, I’m not even kidding it was insane

I've met 15 year olds with beards so

In middle school I knew a kid from his mom so he was prone to having a small French mustache of sorts. He’s shave it off but I just think he’s funny with it (man was a jerk, so it’s funnier)

It’s when they miss the entire point

Lmao exactly, the critiquing of this show is never applied to other cartoons that are considered well liked all around. The point of proving that people wouldn’t be good writers irl is so real

Remember to keep track of the death threats you get from this video

I agree with you 🙂

Hopefully good

can't wait to see people who never watched steven universe at all coming here and "criticizing" why it's a bad show...

Eh... yeah this video of yours is fine. Not saying anything too awful. But dang you helped me realize to be careful with time skipping in story telling. People will not like what the characters have become and will always not understand why it wasn't brought up before the time skip. Especially if it would have lead to something interesting in the story. And to be careful with messaging in story. If it's about feeling and being open and talking things out do not have the character/s not talk things out for certain things. These two contradictory things will confuse viewers. "Because plot" will not stop them from pointing out how much they personally don't like it.

I think it def fulfilled that potential. I understand people not liking certain characters and their choices but I don’t understand not liking the show

@@ooiiooiiooii it's just the fact it introduced more unnecessary plot holes than solved them and rushed an ending which didn't need to happen

@@threeguysandagirlinabeachhouse i don't understand what you mean by unnecessary plot holes and then solving them

@@ooiiooiiooii I mean it didn't solve them. For example, bluebird, curly lapis, jasper didn't even get a good character send off. We also never saw emerald, any worthy backstory to rhodonite, or a solid ending to holly blue agate. The show has such a tendency to have to always have the plot revolve around Steven and Steven only that we can't have anything with these other characters, and because future was the season where the spotlight should've been shifted to those characters who didn't get much development, they decided that Steven needed even more spotlight.

@@cats-nn2km nobody cares about your opinion

As someone with horrible intrusive thoughts i think this makes a lot of sense. When you’re unstable or being hit with a lot of traumatic memories thoughts like that are so easy to have and its so easy to feel like a horrible person for having them even though you would never act on them. I do think Steven overreacted a _bit_ to being rejected but honestly considering how much of a trainwreck his mental health was when that happened i could see many people reacting similar to him, including myself. He thought marriage and fusion could fix everything and finally make him feel whole and not getting that dream outcome hurts a lot.

Steven has never interacted with Greg's parents himself, & has no frame of reference for how abusive & stifling Greg's upbringing may have been. For Steven, they represent a humanity he feels detached & isolated from, one he has never been allowed to fully connect with. Remember how excited Steven was to meet Uncle Andy, finding out he had human family this whole time?

I honestly really connected with that scene to a degree despite disagreeing with Greg being a bad dad - as someone who faced childhood neglect and isolation (including homeschooling instead of public and rarely leaving the house making that scene all the more personal to me) i understood why he was so mad and it just made me sad that greg was the one he lashed out on for that. Greg is by no means the best parent, but he’s done the most he can to be there for his son and be one of the most supportive and helpful people in his life which is something i never got as a child and something i think he was too angry to really see at the time.

@@3starsburningbright Exactly, Greg did the best he could with Steven; especially since the Gems kept him away from the only real parent he had left

I think it's valid to say Greg overcorrected a little in his parenting. He grew up in an overly restrictive household and didn't want the same for Steven, but ended up giving him the exact opposite. It's not wrong for Steven to have wanted a more "normal" life, even if he probably doesn't understand how bad it was for Greg

Steven doesn't know what a "normal childhood" is. His awkwardness around Connie's friends in the skating episode shows how out of touch he feels with humans, how he's unable to relate to Connie in a way that feels so fundamental and impossible to fix. His anger towards Greg is misplaced, but I can sympathize with him. There's never been anything or anyone like Steven. That must feel very alienating.

Very happy you're still here dude, take care. ❤

Yeah, but i guess that's what happens when you're given just a single episode to resolve and expand on plot points or characters. Half of the first half episodes would have been entire mini arcs in the main show.

I think it was probably hard enough to even get the studio to agree to make a miniseries cartoon about Steven Universe that was all about growth and trauma, instead of having more “space monster fights.” I agree with you for myself, I would have loved more too, but I think it’s incredible that this story was made at all. And although not perfect it’s an open and honest look at trauma, PTSD and cPTSD and also retroactively shows how Steven’s coping mechanisms throughout his story were flawed and never really helped him deal with things properly.

idk I feel like songs would ruin the moment. sometimes you should let a scene go silent to be more powerful.

It would have been nice if they just managed to fit in a little montage of how his life had been changing through those months, when he decided to leave, etc.

Just because she changed it doesn't mean Steven has to forgive her

thats wild

All because they had a gay wedding. Ridiculous.

I had never heard of the show until late 2021 didn't knew a single thing about it when I watched it for the first time in 2022 and I didn't even saw Steven Universe Future when I re watched the show I liked but I like the main show so much more

She was a pretty minor character, but I think Bluebird Azurite can count as one of the villains Steven wasn't able to redeem! She kind of just leaves and is never seen again after proclaiming her undying hatred for Steven, lol 😅

He wasn't hating on toonshi. He was just giving valid criticism. And of course we know how much toonshi hates his old content, and I myself watch his videos all the time. This was just the one of few video missteps. ^^

In theory sure, but he's still a human and with his aging being based on his own perceptions of himself he''ll inevitable die of unnatural old age.

Of course it's going to be exaggerated, it's still a cartoon. We need to remember and understand this. It's weird seeing people complain about that when it's obvious why it's the way it is.