Gem placement stuff for Centipeetle, please?

anonymous

It should be noted that Centipeetle’s first form differs from her second in terms of the gem. It’s a subtle difference, but in her ‘big’ form, she has a distinct projected eyeball, with the gem as the pupil. In her smaller form, the gem itself is her eye. My assumption is that her gem form would be more like the second, because of the size of her gem relative to the presumed size of her head.

It seems quite interesting that Centipeetle appears to have an increasing number of similarities to Amethyst and Jasper. As she has the same shaggy, pale hair as Amethyst and Jasper we’ll assume she’s another Kindergarten Gem, and she appears to be about Jasper’s size if we’re going off her curled-up, pre-regeneration form as compared to Steven. If both she and Steven stood up, it appears that Steven would be a little shorter than her pelvis- or about Steven’s height next to Jasper. Her themes also heavily feature bass, but have the inclusion of drumbeats- Jasper and Amethyst’s instruments (though both Monster Buddy and Monster Spelunkin also heavily feature Steven’s chiptune)



Another major thing Centipeetle shares with Jasper- her gem is on the face, replacing one of her senses. It could be off to one side or the other, but if it’s a “standard” gem placement (and with the size of the sphere) it seems more likely that Centipeetle, like Sapphire, has a single large eye dominating the upper part of her face, possibly to the exclusion of her nose.



Sight would be of great importance to Centipeetle. If we think about a connection to animals, it is a trait shared between hunted and hunter- creatures like meercats or prairie dogs that live together in colonies and post lookouts, and hunters relying on their keen eyesight such as falcons and eagles. This would also make it significant in that in her monster form, she cannot see unless her jaw is open, exposing her gem- she’s struggling between a need to understand her surroundings (sight) and the fear of attack (protecting her gem by closing it in her mandibles). Many gem beasts seem to have their gem retreat inwards, to be stashed inside of their body- commonly it can be seen inside the mouth or in the throat, which may be in the process of retreating further. They’re giving up many of their important gem functions in trying to protect themselves.



While we don’t know much of Centipeetle’s personality, an outstanding trait she’s shown on her own is protectiveness. Specifically, she’s of a similar inclination to Garnet: not defending others directly, but wielding great offensive power to chase off and deter threats. When she’s not afraid of him, she immediately takes to Steven as a protectorate- though he attacked her alongside the other Crystal Gems in Gem Glow, the fact that he seems vulnerable and afraid to her (yelling in alarm when the seagull swoops in) takes priority to her.

Like Jasper, Centipeetle having a gem that replaces one of her senses suggests she is intellectual or heady (and fittingly she’s one of the cleverer gem beasts we’ve seen, having a clear sense of strategy in multitasking with her head and tail to keep both Steven and the senior Crystal Gems busy) but that her primary focus is on the world around her, seeing things as they are and reacting to them quickly. This suggests a sort of real-time combat strategy, and Centipeetle may have occupied a role similar to Jasper’s in the sense of being a captain or commander of troops.

A centralized or “third eye” suggests a sense of higher insight and perception, often beyond a physical area. You can see this imagery present in both Garnet, who has a literal third eye, and Sapphire- both are seers, Sapphire being the source of Garnet’s future vision. It should be noted that, unlike Jasper, Centipeetle’s gem seems like it would extend towards her forehead, suggesting her to be a prominently intellectual gem in the vein of Pearl or Peridot.

Again, Centipeetle seems the most clever gem beast we’ve seen thus far. She was able to give the Crystal Gems a lot more trouble than the average corrupted gem, and also was very quickly able to figure out what Steven wanted (he imitates the seagull squawking and she understands it means he wants her to spit acid), and in Monster Buddies the timing behind a lot of the sounds she makes sounds almost like she is trying to converse with Steven, albeit in horrible shrieking sounds rather than words.



TL;DR Centipeetle’s placement seems to suggest:

A cerebral or intelligent individual, but one rooted in the senses and experiencing the present.

“Looking after” or watching over others, identifying potential dangers to protect others, a natural protective instinct.

As a final note, there might be ‘tiers’ of Kindergarten gems- if they’re tailor-made soldiers, there could well be tailor-made captains and commanders as well. Maybe all the upper-ranking Aggregates are the ones with the sense-replacing gems- and Amethyst would’ve been more of a rank-and-file soldier due to her chest-mounted gem?

And if that’s the case, the gem Rose was facing in Pearl’s recollection could well have been one of those higher-ranking Aggregates- which makes sense why she’s wearing a helmet when she has no other armor on. Her gem would be on her head and she’d be seeking to protect it.

If it is the case that Centipeetle used to guide soldiers- it’s most likely she fell and was corrupted during battle. Could it be then that she presently perceives Steven as one of her lost soldiers? As Gems don’t necessarily have a parental “instinct”, Centipeetle may have felt responsible for those under her (especially if aggregates are assigned to their units while still fairly young, some of those ‘soldiers’ could have been literal children) and thus she feels obligated to protect Steven, who she may see as a subordinate.

