Something that I have always theorized - Steven isn't genuinely interested in being a CG. Okay, he's very excited with the idea of going on missions and wants to prove to the others that he's ready, but his main motivation was because he feared none of them would want to be with him if he didn't have powers like Rose did. I guess what I'm trying to say is that possibly Steven never thought, "What do I want my future to be?" and more like, "What do my loved ones want my future to be?"

Oh yeah, for sure. Just check his lyrics in the extended intro: “I will fight to be everything that everyone wants me to be when I’m grown!” That’s not okay. He feels a lot of pressure to fill Rose’s shoes, even if it’s rarely stated directly (see, e.g., the end of An Indirect Kiss).



But like Rebecca Sugar said, he’ll never manage it; Rose went barefoot.



And this goes beyond his relationship to Rose’s legacy. He wants to be with the gems, he wants “smiles on faces”, he wants to protect his friends, and all of that manifests as “I’m a Crystal Gem too!” But he’s working to explore and even redefine what that means.



The biggest change is this: he’s not going to go to war for Earth. He’ll fight, but not to re-do the battles of the past. He’ll fight for the future. His allegiance isn’t to the Crystal Gem’s “side”, it’s to their ethos:

The Crystal Gems fought to preserve the Earth. Homeworld still seeks to destroy it. But Steven is not interested in preserving the status quo. He wants to repair the damage of the past, and build a better future. For everyone.

