Disclaimer: English is not my first language, therefore grammar, typing and other aspects of this essay may not be perfect, please feel free to comment me suggestions and mistakes that may help. As well as sharing your ideas! Also possible SPOILERS (If you are not to date with the show)

I am sure there is already people that has realized this, but it’s always nice to get this things written down so everyone can realize, share, and maybe get inspiration for other ideas. So, let’s get started.

Gems monster! As we all fans know at this point (at least those who are up to date) the gems monster on earth that the crystal gems fight in their adventures are but corrupted gems, and by that, we mean that in a past, they were literally like the gems we all love and care for. Until the Diamonds in a desperate attempt to win the war, and also probably out of spite for the shattering of pink diamond, throw kind of a nuke to the earth, a nuke that only affected gems, corrupting their minds and making them unable to reform in their desired form, but rather a horrible monster that is barely a shadow of the being that they were once.

It’s been stated that, when the nuke was throw, not all the gems from the side of Homeworld had yet left. And of course the crystal gems were left to face their destiny. However, it’s also been stated that while the mind of the gems is been reduced to rags of what it was, some memories and behaviors are still there, probably due to a deep engravement. Then, is it possible to distinguish which of the monsters seen in the series so far are from one side or the other? I believe it is:

Homeworld gems usual corrupted behavior: We didn’t knew this, but we saw this since the very first episode. We know now that the Centipeetle (Centi) is a homeworld gem. What does she does when being seen for the first time?

She is trying to escape.

This is not surprising, as the last memory she has is about how she MUST escape earth. So we can tell for certain this is a deeply engraved instinct, she is trying to survive, trying to go back home, where she can feel safe. Ultimately she didn’t quite made it but we know she currently feels more safe due to being in company of her crew.

This behavior seems to be recurrent in Homeworld gems (which is not surprising as self-preservation is a very basic instinct of any living being) as proven by:

The tongue monster!

Which is, also, somehow trying to escape:

She is been seen a lot in open fields just kind of yelling for help, seems to be trying to request back up, also (and this will be important later) contrary to a lot of other gem monsters, she is much more evasive, rather than fight against Peridot and Steven, she just fight back when it is as self-defense, the rest of the time she just runs away, avoiding confrontation as much as possible

Now let’s go with the corrupted Crystal gems, shall we? The crystal gems do feel safe on earth, this is their (new) home, and so are much more comfortable, also, they don’t have a place to “escape” as that place is actually the earth in which they already are. So, do they have some behavior that can ring the bell for us? Actually, yes:



“It’s a ritual for us crystal gems to spar before a battle” -.Bismuth (plus look how cute she is)

Bismuth reveals during her short appearance that the crystal gems had a long series of traditions and lore, which is not surprising, as we don’t really know how long was the civil war on earth, among them, they have friendly spars before battle, probably as stress relief, and (as seen in this scene) just to have fun. Now this does ring a bell.

Remember her? Watermelon here is seen in her episode doing absolutely nothing but “spar” with the crystal gems, she doesn’t seems to have a purpose whatsoever, she just floats around “playing” we could maybe excuse her excess of force with not being at her 100% state of mind, not controlling her impulses, but we could push it a bit and see the logic thought underneath: “These are my comrades, we used to spar and play, I felt good when we did in the past, maybe if I do now, I will feel better” There is also some more clues:

What about her? For those who don’t remember, this is the monster inside the ice cave in which the shooting star is hidden.

A bit forward form her episode; in “winter forecast”, Pearl states that the Shooting Star is so hot that “bare skin cannot endure its intensity”. Even Garnet, who can swim in lava and control electricity, is unable to hold the star without her gauntlets. If this can be used as a weapon, presumably stealth form the Diamond authorities or the Elite gems during the war, it makes sense that the crystal gems wanted to keep it safe, hiding it far from their hideouts and most important, placing a guard.

Again you can see some sort of engraved memory here “I was trust this position, I am guarding and important object, I will fight anybody trying to reach it” and this one is very repeated

She was guarding the heaven beetle.

She was guarding Watermelon Island. And an important note: Nothing important gem-like seems to be guarded there, but maybe this gem just simply enjoyed this island a lot, and her last memories indicates her that “happiness” can be found here, therefore protecting this place

I mean, if Bismuth would have been corrupted, couldn’t you see her roaming around the forge in her monster form? If Amethyst were to be corrupted, wouldn’t she probably be most likely roaming around the Kindergarten? The crystal gems have pleasant memories attached to certain places here on earth, in their corrupted nightmare it makes sense that they try to go to their happy place to feel better about their condition, to at least have a “home” same as it makes sense for HW gems to just try to leave

Another note:

The slinker: This gem does not fight, however does not seem to be trying to escape either, but you could arguably say she is “just playing” as she just attack the gems one by one, merely pops them, and then resumes to just roam around the temple, if she were to really hurt, she would probably attempt to shatter the gems, but she clearly doesn’t, also, she seems to be quite comfortable in the temple, apparently, that is “home” for her

TL; DR: According with my theory, corrupted homeworld gems are more evasive from the crystal gems fighting only if necessary, and have a (logic) fixation with escaping earth. Crystal gems monsters have a much more aggressive/defensive approach, are usually located as guardians and don’t fear to fight at first seen. Thank you for your attention!

PD: Thanks to the wiki for all the images and some info!