GachaEvery
Wattreader7389
ReptileEdge
AbelardoGuajardoG
RoseTheMagicalFlower

Spoilers to Canon Steven Universe and Arkham Edition. 

So, what makes Arkham Steven different from any other Steven? What makes Arkham Steven different than Diamond Spinel AU Steven, Disarmed AU Steven, Spinel House AU Steven, Crystal Spinel AU, New Home AU Steven, Rose Lives AU Steven, Mom-Swap AU Steven, Evil Steven AU, Diamond Steven AU, even Canon Steven? 

Well, let's take a dive at his origin story first. Arkham Steven was born the same way Canon Steven was born and had a similar childhood to his original counterpart, but that's as far as the similarities end. Arkham Steven took a major change of character when he decided to embrace his mother's destiny for him.

In the canon series, Steven was constantly looking up to his mother for answers, and when he got them, he wasn't satisfied and began resenting her (deny it all you want, Canon Steven resents his mother as it was heavily implied in the series many times). Arkham Steven looked up to her and even when he got the answers, he never stopped loving her. And he desperately wants to meet his mother in person, but knows that isn't possible without something magical (foreshadowing...?).

After embracing his mother's destiny, Arkham Steven decided to make himself better than he originally was by spending two years of his life training himself to achieve perfection. He trained by working his body to the limit, learning how to control his powers flawlessly, learning 15 martial arts and learning psychology from reading college books. Now, how do these things help him and what did the others think of this?

Learning the multiple martial arts is a no-brainer, since learning how to fight is kind of essential when you're in the Crystal Gems. So, we're not going to look at it much and gloss over it. Steven didn't learn how to fight from the gems, he used his allowance from his wealthy father to pay personal lessons from a retired martial arts teacher who is now a ballet teacher.

Working out might be something that isn't required, since Canon Steven was already strong and agile and he wasn't quite in shape (to put it kindly). Arkham Steven made his body fit and agile, not intending to use his powers and stamina as a crutch, which is proven to be very useful during the time he was ill from Spinel, since he was able to constantly run around and fight all night.

Steven learned how to control his powers early on with the help of the Crystal Gems and his teacher, giving him support and morale boost. But here's where some of you might be scratching your heads.

"How did Steven achieve his many powers at a younger age than his canon counterpart? Steven was 16 in the show when he gotten his powers, yet Arkham Steven got his powers at the 13 which is way younger than when Canon Steven started to use his defensive powers like his bubble and sheild."

Well the older Canon Steven got, the more emotional he got with his trauma catching up to him. It was stated that his powers are tied to his emotions and they are basically his key to using them. And then he reaches a point where he can just use them effortlessly and be completely sound.

But he needed to unlock them after severe emotional trauma/scarring. For example, after he watched Garnet and Pearl poofed, he was deeply affected by those incidents and you can definitely see it when you watch those episodes. 

It's kind of twisted that Steven needs to experience emotional trauma in order to get his powers. Bravo Steven Universe writers, you did some DC writing onto your kid's show.  

Now with that in mind, what was Arkham Steven's trauma? It's quite obvious he didn't start his adventures at a young age like Canon Steven. In fact, he was practically sheltered in Arkham Edition during his younger years (and from so on, I digressed but I'll get back to Arkham Steven's trauma eventually).

Because Arkham Edition actually took a realistic approach to Steven not being a registered United States citizen and how the canon series glossed over the threat of the government being involved (I get that it's a kids show and all, but you gotta add some explanation to the hidden lore). 

Back to the topic at hand, Arkham Steven is kind of a busted character when you consider the fact that he outclasses any other Steven in terms of power, intelligence and combat.

Dude literally mops the floor with common grunts, and does the same for his villains.

Tell me, is there any other Steven who could defeat Jasper, the Diamond Authority, Bluebird, Emerald, Holly Blue Agate, Spinel and many more Steven Universe villains in one night? Not just throughout the series, all of them in the span of one single night?

I didn't think so.

Surely, a character as OP as Steven has to have weaknesses, right? Well, he does. But at the same time, those same weaknesses can piss him off to the point where he's even more dangerous than initially. 

For example, you trick him into thinking you're his mother. As soon as he finds out its a trick, he'll have you bawling like a little schoolgirl. 

His mother is an obvious weakness. Rejuvenation is another weakness, but it only slows him down since he can still kick butt while being sick (rejuvenation takes a realistic tone on Arkham Steven yet he still handles it better than Canon Steven). 

And as of currently, Arkham Steven knows how to basically shrug off rejuvenation, so your best bet is to strap a rejuvenation collar around his neck and hope he doesn't find a way to get it off. 'Cause otherwise, he's gonna take it off and give you a collar of his own - it's called a neck brace. 

Anyway, so what else does make Arkham Steven unique? Maybe perhaps he actually has a healthy relationship with the Diamonds and Spinel?

This was a problem I had with the show, where Steven full-on distanced himself from the Diamonds and Spinel. I get that they make him uncomfortable, but to just never speak to them again just makes it hard for me to like him. 

This was confirmed by Spinel, who said "you never call, you never write," to Steven during his next visit. And since Steven practically never visits them unless he needs something - which doesn't help him look any better at all. 

I really wanted to see more Diamond and Spinel screentime, but we were ultimately shafted when they wrote Future. 

And then were absolutely CONNED out of them saying goodbye to Steven at the LAST EPISODE! Seriously?! You couldn't give the voice actresses a few more bucks for them to say, at most, two sentences?!

I get it, you had twenty episodes and you weren't given much to work with. But maybe INSTEAD OF MAKING AN EPISODE WHERE THE GEMS FORCE-FUSE WITH STEVEN, YOU COULD'VE HAD A WHOLE EPISODE TO TIE UP LOOSE ENDS AND GET MORE DIAMOND AND SPINEL SCREENTIME!

I fucking hate A Very Special Episode so much, it served NO ACTUAL PURPOSE to the show - other than cringy fan-service for those who missed the fusions. Not to mention the gems do what Jasper did to Lapis - but without the whole 'toxic partner' bit in it. 

Sorry, I digressed way too much when I was trying to say that Arkham Steven actually visits with the Diamonds and includes them more than his canon counterpart.

What's another thing that Arkham Steven does that Canon Steven doesn't? Oh, yeah, I know.

Arkham Steven actually minds his own business. Why do I say that?

Well, when i rewatched Steven Universe Future many, many times, I realized that Steven was... kinda nosy when regarding gems trying to adapt in the new era. Like, he literally saw that they had the best professions picked for them and was like, "nah, let's force them to do something they're not remotely good at because it'll remind them too much of the older era."

That's kinda like dictatorship, but without the violence and such. Steven basically became authoritative like the Diamonds in that episode. 

Anyway, Arkham Steven doesn't care what they do in the new era, just as long as they aren't causing harm to anyone. Like, he literally couldn't care less what they do. They could build a castle out of pillows and he'd just sit back and let them do it. He might even take a selfie of it, too.

And I know I should bring up the fact that he doesn't get together with Connie, and instead, gets together with Moonlight. But I can't really talk about that too much when Moonlight is kinda a... 'weird' pick for him compared to Connie.

Yeah, Connie's kinda toxic and stuff, but Moonlight's not exactly better than her... at least not in this universe. One thing she's got going for her that Connie doesn't is that Moonlight never guilt-trips Steven for sacrificing himself or completely screws his plans - especially when it almost costed them their lives. 

I'm not taking down my Connie rant on Arkham Edition, it'll stay there forever.

Moving on, Arkham Steven also copes differently. He may seem like nothing really ever bothers him - but that's not exactly true. He's basically, "I've seen worse."

So, regarding an earlier topic, what trauma made Arkham Steven unlock his powers? His attempted suicide at the age of 13. 

This wasn't shown yet, because I haven't found a way to implement it, so keep that in mind: the story of Arkham Steven's development started with him becoming more self aware of himself - like he realizes that he's just an annoying kid to everyone and then decides to not show his face after annoying PeeDee for The Bits, getting banned from Funland and for pissing Lars and Sadie off for being himself. 

So, he basically developed social anxiety - which is why he hadn't met Connie yet in the timeline - and decided he wasn't going to leave the house. And the gems were alright with that. His dad, not so much. But Steven also learns the harsh truth of the gems from when he was a baby.

'Cause y'see, unlike Canon Steven who laughed it off, Arkham Steven didn't take it too kindly that Pearl tried pulling his gem out when he was an infant. You would think he'd show some detest towards them for that, but nope, just laughs it off.

And ever since then, Arkham Steven believed that they don't care about him and only care about Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz's gem. Which made him feel even more self-loathing than what the humans made him feel. 

Feeling like he served no other purpose in his life other than taking away his mother from everyone, he decided that the best course of action was to pull his gem out and let him die so she can come back and things will go back to normal.

Oh yeah, Arkham Steven never followed through with it. Because it hurt him too much to do it. And that's when he decided that he should become this unbeatable warrior that saved Homeworld in one night many times throughout his life. 

Basically, one attempted suicide had molded him into becoming what he is today. 

Regarding him coping, however, he just... ignores it. Similar to how Canon Steven ignores his trauma, but Arkham Steven is really good at bottling things up. Probably because of how patient he is, or the fact he bottled things up much longer than Canon Steven. 

He certainly doesn't turn himself into a monster. 

And a thing I kinda have a gripe about, when regarding the comparison between Canon and Arkham, I'm still kinda salty that people say Canon Steven is scarier than Arkham Steven because of how unpredictable Canon Steven was. 

I kinda think the opposite. Canon Steven was predictable since anything involving his mother would set him off. Meanwhile you had no clue what Arkham Steven is feeling without the author (me) telling you. 

I guess that's also why Rose The Flower is #1 in the villain ranking, since she's basically the universe's trickster who can and will do anything for her own benefit. 

Personally, I liked it when Arkham Steven was depressed, since I can heavily relate to him during that time. I don't exactly do the things he does during his time of grief, but I can relate to the type of coping he does, where he isolates himself.

Because, unfortunately, I do the same thing. 

You know, after creating Arkham Steven and looking back at Canon Steven, I really think Canon Steven peaked at the end of Change Your Mind and the Movie before derailing in Future.

C'mon, Rebecca, I know you had twenty episodes, but even I could write a better story than you did with twenty episodes. And that's really something if I could manage to do better. Maybe it's because I'll actually FOCUS on the story itself and its characters instead of dedicating episodes for pointless things like Steven learning how to skate and the gems abusing fusion. 

ANYONE with the heart and passion could write a more coherent story than what Rebecca did. 

Now I'm probably going to get comments saying, "gee, Samuel, if you say you could write a better Steven Universe Future, then why don't you do it?"

That's a good question. Y'see, I would probably do it, but there's already so many rewrites of Future and my story wouldn't really stand out from the others. Plus the hype of Steven Universe kinda died down after that tweet from last year went nowhere. 

I'll probably end up doing it eventually, but not right now. I got loads of other things to do.

That pretty much sums up Arkham Steven as a basic character (if you've been keeping notes whenever the rants kicked in). I honestly like doing the analysis stuff, since it's easier to do than write chapters for main stories and such.

It requires a lot of brainstorming and motivation - which I severely lack in both. 

Please comment down below a character from Arkham Edition you want me to review next. If you have a specific reason why you want me to review a character, like say, "why Arkham Peridot is better than Canon Peridot" or "why Arkham villains are better than Canon villains," you gotta specify it - or else you get a generic analysis like this one.

May 2nd, 2023. 11:47 PM.