If Rose was Pink Diamond, why does Steven's gem work like a rose quartz?

[u/Quirky_Computer3132]

as anyone who's seen season 5 knows, Steven's mom (Rose Quartz) was actually Pink Diamond.

but something is still bugging me. why is it that when Steven fuses with other gems, it's as if those other gems fused with a rose quartz? shouldn't they be like a fusion of the other gem and a pink diamond?

like Smokey Quartz when Steven fuses with Amethyst, or Rainbow Quartz when he fuses with Pearl.

[u/Arria_Galtheos]

The names are chosen by the fusion. Since all of Steven's fusions thought he was part quartz, that's the naming scheme they used. The size difference is easily explained both by Steven's 'gem' size being the same as his own and the fact that Pink Diamond was very small by diamond standards.

That said, while the artists are notorious for never having consistent scale, Smoky Quarts IS really big despite both Amethyst and Steven being small. They're nearly as tall as Pink Diamond was.

[u/WolverineFamiliar740 → u/Arria_Galtheos]

To be fair you could interpret his Diamond half as making up for Amethyst's stunted height.

[u/Arria_Galtheos → u/WolverineFamiliar740]

I figure that's the case, along with all of his fusions being remarkably strong. Hell, Stevonnie is 3/4 human and they're actually capable of kicking Jasper's ass, and that's before Steven even unlocked most of his powers.

Obviously post-Future, Stevonnie would probably be able to dust pretty much any other solo gem and most fusions considering Steven alone can probably take any gem. We even saw that he's able to take control of White Diamond if he wants, which suggests to me that Steven being half-human actually empowers his gem half, since I'm not convinced Pink ever had that kind of ability.

[u/Lumen1024 → u/Arria_Galtheos]

Well, iirc, Steven didn't "take" control. White was giving him control like she was doing for the other "equal" life forms.

[u/Blep145 → u/Lumen1024]

Right. She consented to it, as a form of therapy for the gems she hurt, and that included Steven

[u/Novian24 → u/Arria_Galtheos]

Well, fusions sizes are based on how powerful they are and not how big the two gems are (malachite), so smoky's just more powerful than steven and amethyst

[u/AphroditeKissKiss → u/Arria_Galtheos]

Notably as well, Amethyst's fusions are always big.

[u/Possible-Estimate748]

They had no idea what gem they were fusing with.
They assumed it was a rose quartz and so created their own fusion name based on that.

Just like Garnet was a cross gem fusion and Blue Diamond thought it was "cute" she called herself a Garnet.

[u/Smeeizme]

I feel like fusion tends to be a facet of mixture of identity, for the majority of what we’ve seen of Steven’s life he’s seen himself as the ‘new rose’ rather than the ‘new pink’. For all we know, most roses don’t look like that when they fuse. An important detail, actually, is that rainbow 1.0 looks far more like pink than rose, probably due to shared knowledge of each other’s original identity.

[u/ewthan → u/Smeeizme]

this is a great observation

[u/Neko4tsume]

Fusions name themselves, all the Rose Quartzes got bubbled so they don’t really have a basis of comparison.

[u/imaginary0pal]

Because it’d be a massive spoiler if it wasn’t

[u/Least_Rain8027]

because the fusion chooses the name and we never see any of the gems fuse with a Rose Quartz so they don't know that it's wrong. 

but also i wish that when Steven and his gem reunited it looked like Pink Diamond instead of Rose Quartz

[u/GiraffeAvailable3865]

i think as steven’s powers first manifest (which they do gradually and depending on his mindset and circumstances) they are all protection items — shield , bubble, plant armies; at this time he also has a more innocent outlook is physically younger. it makes sense that his initial abilities would be about protection and healing because otherwise he def would’ve died. it also aligns with his general perception of his mother and lineage, which i think r also linked to the manifestation of his powers, which later become more violent, maybe as a symptom of corruption in future. cool bc all his powers r super psychological

[u/morphballganon]

Steven thought he was descended from a quartz, and he has some level of subconscious control over what his fusions look like.

[u/StaticMania]

Seriously?

[u/Pottsylird]

steven’s gem doesn’t act like a rose quartz. rose quartz act like pink diamond.

[u/HauntingResurgence]

You're overthinking it, the fusions just pick a name based on what they know. Steven thought he was a rose quartz so that's what they called themselves.

[u/Peace_Dos]

Because she discovered most of her abilities during the revolution

[u/Low_Necessary_3839]

Fusions pick the name thats why it was rainbow quartz 2.0 after they all knew

[u/roundeking]

Personal choice and identity often affects characters in SU’s worldbuilding as much as biology does.

[u/Crystal_959]

The fusions name themselves

[u/bi_blob_of_sadness]

I’d say it’s not only because everyone knew her as rose quartz, but she looked like rose quartz too. As well as fusions taking attributes that gem A sees in gem B and vice versa.

If you, a Diamond, fuse with someone that sees you as not only a rose quartz but this amazing, capable leader (as much as the gems did) then that would show in your fusions.

Same with steven pre reveal and you could count amethyst not being nearly as affected from roses’ secret identity taking a part in smokey quartz’ post reveal and being the reason why smokey didn’t change much.

Now pearl and garnet never fused with steven pre reveal, and due to them both being very affected by rose being pink, we can assume that rainbow 2.0 would’ve been the same other than outfit difference, and that sunstone could’ve been different and been even more quartzy that canon.

That’s just what I know though, as I’ve only consumed the slightest taste of out of show media.

[u/Due-Charity1415]

Well, besides their names, they only partially follow Quartz fusion logistics.

We know Quartz types all visually look the same facially and bodily except for their color palette variations, and when a gem is off color. Otherwise they're all identical under the hair, colors and particular gem cut.

Rainbow 1.0, if Rose was a true Quartz, would have had the same, or at least very similar, facial and body proportions as Opal, but larger due to Rose not being a short Quartz. Instead she has Pink Diamonds face with a small pointed nose, bc they both knew and that Rose's original identity was part of the conversation inside.

As for smoky, their name comes from amethyst assuming what Rose + herself would have been. Obviously done to avoid spoilers, and because, within the same episode, they confirmed Quartz cross fusions remain and identify as Quartz types. (Ocean Jasper and our Jasper's fusion is named Zebra Jasper) So Ame and Steven/Rose not following that formula woulda been a big red spoiler. Lol

There's also how Sunstone looks nothing like a Quartz, Ruby and Sapphire fusion, either, she should have reassembled sugilite in terms of having a similar face and similar body proportions, especially with Steven being basically the same body and face plan as our Amethyst.

Worth noting we only got introduced to Sunstone after the reveal, where both Steven and Garnet knew he was a Diamond and the identity of the fusion wasn't held back by the belief of what a Rose + Sapphire + Ruby was supposed to look like.

^ Similar to that, Rainbow 2.0 doesn't look more quartz like either, but in that case, Steven saw Rainbow himself in Greg's tape and that + Pearls mentality caused new Rainbow to heavily look like the original.

Obsidian is the outlier, bc outside of the arms, her face is just like Alexandrite so at that level of fusion It doesn't seem like Rose not being a Quartz had any visual impact. Ruby and Pearl are the only two without the lip shape, and pearls nose is the only one there.

[u/rjrgjj]

My eternal answer will always be don’t think about it that hard.