I love fusion, because it’s just so alien.

Like, 99% of media that involves any kind of alien race makes them English-speaking anthropomorphs with a very human-like culture. Which is fine. Because they’d be hard-pressed to get people emotionally invested in–say–an alien race of faceless slug monsters that ooze slime and eat their young. That humanness is necessary for engaging the audience in their characters.

The downside is that it’s easy to kind of forget their alien nature, the idea that they have experiences so wholly foreign to humans that that have no analogy or equivalent for us to understand them. And I’ve realized–that’s what fusion is, for the Gems, for the audience.

There are so many discussions of “Fusion is sex!” “Fusion is love!” “Fusion is trust!” “Fusion is a combined conscience!” “Fusion erases their consciences!” “Fusion is the two of them together!” “Fusion is an entirely new being!” “Fusion erases!” “Fusion creates!” all these conflicting ideas that seem partially, or occasionally, or circumstantially right. All these discussions on if it’s cool, or endearing, or disturbing.

And I’ve realized…it’s none of those, and it’s all of those. Fusion is confusing and so widely debated because it is alien, because we as viewers don’t have any direct way to understand it. I’ve spent long hours trying to figure out what Garnet is in terms of Ruby and Sapphire, but I’m actually delighted to accept that I won’t ever understand, not entirely.

Even better, there’s an entire culture around it. It’s something so integral to their society, to all the gems, that it represents an entire facet of their culture that we can’t grasp. There are politics around it. There are morals. There are stigmas. “Shameless display” Jasper calls Garnet. “Life or death!” Pearl maintains. “This is what Homeworld thinks of fusion!” Garnet says, in shock and terror and revulsion, as Homeworld forces this alien state of being on shattered gems. Something so wholesome in Garnet turned so terrifying in the Cluster, the same thing in a shifted context.

Fusion is everything and nothing that we understand of it. It’s for love. It’s for power. It’s for necessity. It’s for fun. It’s the ultimate connection between gems. It’s a cheap trick. It’s a choice.

And it’s alien.

That’s why I love it so much.