(Body Horror, spoilers for Stevenbomb 2)



The episode Cat Fingers was the first episode to introduce us to Gems’ shapeshifting abilities, and also a case of that shapeshifting going wrong. It seems a very anecdotal plot, simply there to explain something Gems are capable of while also giving Steven a reason for not wanting to delve into it until he has a better grasp of his Gem powers.



But the early episodes of Steven Universe were written with a clear, vested interest in introducing us to issues on a larger scale. The Red Eye in Laser Light Cannon was an early omen for Homeworld’s renewed interest in Earth. We were shown Amethyst feeling a schism between herself and Garnet and Pearl, as well as feeling like they were bossing her around (Tiger Millionaire) long before we knew about her relative youth and origins (On The Run; Rose’s Scabbard.)

I think there’s a reason we were introduced to shapeshifting in the context of Cat Fingers. There are other narratives that could’ve introduced this to us- but I think there’s something specific in that episode, and it has a lot to do with Pearl.



Something pointed out to me- not my own words, so I’ll paraphrase- that in Cat Fingers, it’s decidedly unusual that Pearl leaves Steven alone with Amethyst teaching him to shapeshift. Not to take shots on Amethyst here- she definitely is the resident shapeshifting expert- but a major part of Pearl’s character, and one of her traits that many Asperger’s viewers, myself included, strongly relate to in her, is that Pearl adores teaching things, especially to Steven. We see this aspect of her in full swing where she produces a hologram to explain shapeshifting to Steven.



But then, immediately afterwards, when Steven shows interest in learning how to shapeshift- a setting in which any other time Pearl basically leaps for joy- she gets up and leaves. She doesn’t even want to be there to explain/instruct as Amethyst shows Steven how.

Another thing pointed out: Pearl is the only Crystal Gem we have not seen shapeshift. Amethyst certainly makes the most of it, but outside of regenerations, the only change Pearl has ever made to herself is transforming her clothes in Beach Party. It’s also noteworthy that every single time it’s brought up, Pearl looks uncomfortable or annoyed. In Keep Beach City Weird she scowled into the distance when Garnet and Amethyst were trying to get her to play Steven Tag.

While Pearl is certainly prim and proper, she doesn’t often display this idea of being ‘above’ Steven’s playing around. Heck, with relatively little coaxing, Amethyst was able to get her to chant “cheeseburger backpack” in the episode of the same name. Moreover, the fact that she’d snub not only Steven, but Garnet and Amethyst is very significant.

This trend continues even just watching Amethyst shapeshift. In Lion 2 Amethyst turns her head into a jukebox and puts on some catchy tunes- Garnet bobs along, but Pearl stares along disapprovingly. And in Cat Fingers she has a rather dry “Or you could… do that.” though that’s more understandable as Amethyst had assumed Pearl’s form and was smacking her butt.

That lead me to study a bit more of Pearl’s behavior in Cat Fingers. Particularly the scene where the Crystal Gems are leaving in the boat.

While Amethyst knew that Steven had turned one of his fingers into a small cat, that scene is the first time they realize he’s later turned all of them into cats. Pearl gets worried and wants to call off the mission, but is shot down by Garnet. Frustrated, she blames Amethyst for the situation, who shrugs it off.



Again- this doesn’t seem too out of order. Pearl is very protective of Steven, and in general kind of a high-stress individual. But what I think is significant about this is Pearl’s reaction in contrast to Garnet and Amethyst.

Garnet is utterly calm. She doesn’t seem to think it’s dangerous, her focus is on the living island and how much trouble it’s going to cause. It could be her future vision is turned towards that as well. While in the return trip, she smugly says Pearl should’ve had more faith in Steven, implying that she just trusted him to work it out…

Steven came very dangerously close to becoming an unrecognizable blob of cats. Consider another shapeshifting malfunction, So Many Birthdays- Garnet was not that calm. Not to mention there was no mentioning anywhere of shapeshifting being affected by water, and this doesn’t seem to be how most shapeshifting even works, because in Secret Team Garnet was able to submerge her entire body while using shapeshifted limbs and hid the limbs themselves under water until it was time to attack.

And even if Garnet was that calm, Amethyst wouldn’t be. Amethyst empathizes with Steven a lot- even if she does occasionally play a joke on him, I seriously doubt she would’ve found Steven’s predicament towards the climax of that episode at all funny. Just like Garnet, Amethyst was panicking in So Many Birthdays.



So why is it they’re both completely calm? Especially Amethyst, the seeming shapeshifting master of the Crystal Gems?



They haven’t run into that problem.

We discover in Secret Team that Gems can’t shapeshift if they aren’t calm. Amethyst says so herself. Presumably, since we’ve never seen a Gem forcefully reverted, they just get locked in whatever form they’re currently in. Framed in this context, Steven’s cat fingers seem extremely trivial: he simply has some clumsy, uncooperative hands until he can calm down enough to turn them back. Nothing to call off dealing with a ‘tectonic emergency’ for.

But Pearl deliberately tells Steven- Steven who is not really panicking at all at this point- ‘just try to stay calm’.

If Garnet and Amethyst haven’t seen this before, and we have never seen a Gem shapeshift badly (regeneration and shapeshifting seem to be different situations and thus I’m not counting An Indirect Kiss or Reformed, as neither of those were intentional shapeshifting on Amethyst’s part), it doesn’t seem to make sense that Pearl would know that panicking would make it worse. Again, Amethyst freaking out seems to prevent her from shapeshifting.

This seems to suggest that neither Garnet nor Amethyst have personally had this kind of runaway shapeshifting, or witnessed it in someone else. But Pearl has.

I’m not the first one to notice Pearl’s obvious refusal and seeming discomfort with shapeshifting- but most seem to have taken it as simply the conclusion is that Pearl can’t shapeshift, and is hiding this from Amethyst and Garnet.



But what if she’s not fully incapable of it? What if she can make it work just enough that it ends up in the same situation as Steven did? We know that Steven can successfully make small changes to his body- he spent most of the day with his cat fingers, and it was only when he started to get concerned (not helped by the fact that Pearl was obviously worried about the situation) that it started to go wrong. Pearl is, as mentioned, fairly panicky. It would be very easy for her to do something with shapeshifting and have difficulty reversing the change- and from there, get scared and cause it to multiply. It would only really take one bad experience to permanently sour her idea of it- especially if Pearl didn’t have a reliable means of reversing it on her own, and had to rely on an outside source (like Steven did).

So Pearl refuses to try- because it’s hard, because the result is ugly and useless, and she doesn’t talk about it to Garnet or Amethyst. It becomes another festering point for her own insecurities- after all, she’s apparently “Defective” in a way that’s immediately obvious if you know what to look for (Jasper called her that after simply glancing her over), and while Steven’s shapeshifting would be understandably complicated (he’s dealing with an organic body), Pearl is a Gem, this is something Gems are ‘supposed’ to be able to do. And she sees Amethyst- Amethyst who’s younger than her, Amethyst who she disagrees with on many topics- effortlessly and easily shapeshifting all the time.

I’m willing to bet Amethyst doesn’t realize this about Pearl. Instances in Secret Team (Pearl tells Amethyst to shapeshift, who can’t because she’s panicking- she immediately asks why Pearl doesn’t), and further in Reformed (Amethyst, while mocking Pearl, suggests that she’s aware of Pearl’s need for validation but doesn’t seem to understand it or the insecurity it stems from- given that Amethyst herself strongly seeks validation from others, I really don’t think she’d knock on someone if she knew they were going through the exact same thing.) seem to support the fact that Amethyst has no idea that there even could be anything wrong with Pearl. To Amethyst as much as to Steven, Pearl is just another Gem, another member of the team- there’s no lingering sense of whatever stigma causes Jasper to speak so poorly of her, and why it is Pearl seems to consider herself a worthless life that only has value if she dedicates herself to a particular cause.



Garnet might know about it- and she only really encourages Pearl to shapeshift once- (Keep Beach City Weird, “Steven tagged you, so you have to turn into Steven. It’s the rules.”) Garnet seems to try and build Pearl’s confidence from time to time, and definitely seems to have a fairly clear idea of Pearl’s issues (She was the one to mention Pearl’s self-sacrificial attitudes in Sworn To The Sword). Her line about “You should’ve had more faith in Steven.” might extend to her attitude towards Pearl- she’s sure Pearl can master her shapeshifting problem. After all, Pearl is able to change part of her physical form without incident (the wardrobe change in Beach Party- Gem clothing is part of their body, and Pearl pulled that change off confidently, without any sort of hesitation or apprehension).

This could even lead to a later plot in which Steven is encouraged to give shapeshifting another try- and at the same time, Pearl is encouraged to give it a shot herself.

