I keep thinking that even though the crystal gems during the gem war had some seriously skilled fighters, they still had to fight dirty to gain the upperhand against the relentless numbers of homeworld.

So I’ve just been sitting here thinking about guerrilla tactics used by Rose and her soldiers, imagining up brutal ways that they had to fight to win, then a horrifying thought came to mind.

When corrupted, gems usually grow in strength and occasionally in size, creating a more ravenous form of themselves that is difficult to defeat right? I mean we’ve seen it in the show. Then I thought:

Volunteer units.

Some gems, knowing the cause needed stronger forms of themselves, volunteered to become corrupted. The others would say their goodbyes, thank them for their sacrifice, then chain them up in a cage. Someone would come over and take some variant of a hammer and chisel on their gem and just give it a firm knock, creating an open crack, but not enough to destabilize the gem.

Just enough to corrupt it.

The process takes one agonizing night, and all the gems in the camp can hear the newer volunteer’s shrieking and moaning from undergoing transformation. In the morning when they check the cage, an already-tied-up super soldier is thrashing about, ready to die for Earth. Like, when I think about it, they basically fit the description of a shock battalion.

They’re like the berserkers of the crystal gems.

Able to be unleashed into the ranks of the homeworld gems and tear apart anything and everything. I imagine it’s a very sad sight to see your friend become this horrid thing and then thrown into a warzone and watch as they relish in the carnage. The thing is, it’s such an effective tactic. They’re brutal fighters that can take pain and punishment and still keep fighting on. But since they can’t be tamed, at the end of every fight, any corruption that is still alive and can’t be contained …

is put down.