Ok. So for fans of Steven Universe, in the beginning, you probably thought that Garnet was the most powerful character due to her strength, intuition, and flawless physique coupled with the fact that she is a fusion made of love. Watching her take down many corrupted gems, save Steven a couple of times, and finally defeat Jasper 1 on 2 (pun intended) in a lengthy but self-encouraging battle. But as the series progressed it started to change. It seems to range between Garnet, Lapis Lazuli the Diamonds, and Spinel.
You could say, Jasper, Malachite, Aquamarine, and Topaz can be ranked as well but when you look back, Jasper shows great tactics, fearless & savage in battle, and will not hesitate to strike fear in the hearts of her enemies or subordinates. However Jasper was no match for fusions as Garnet, Alexandrite, Stevonnie (who is also mostly human), and Smoky Quartz managed to defeat her rather easily on their part, yes Jasper is particularly powerful on her own enough for even Pearl to flinch and shout her name in fear when meeting her again face to face (as Garnet described her as terrifying during her early rebel days) as well as easily defeat and even poof Amethyst or if you wanna get technical 3 gems (not counting Biggs Jasper and the Blue Jasper who were corrupted at the time) thus far before her eventual defeat, but Jasper compared to fusions it appears to be her Achilles Heel even Stevonnie who is mostly human but stronger than Steven himself was capable of fighting her to a standstill, she put up a fight and managed to cause some damage to Garnet but the fusion refused to back down and eventually defeated her, and attempted to counter Smoky Quartz whose primary weapon was a toy as it was a yo-yo. Jasper even attempted to even the playing field by fusing with others as she did with Lapis Lazuli and a corrupted Jasper which ended in failure as she was imprisoned in her fusion with Lapis for some time and though she managed to regain control was still defeated by the Crystal Gems with some help and forced split and her fusion with the corrupted Ocean Jasper though it looks terrifying it appeared to be poorly thought out as her only form of attack was swinging and attempting to advance on Smoky Quartz before that fusion broke as well and it caused Jasper to suffer and corrupted as result due to her desperate attempt to top the Crystal Gems. So Jasper cannot count as the most powerful her limit and weakness appears to be fusions who are stronger than them.
You might think Malachite who is a fusion of Jasper and Lapis, sure Malachite possesses Jasper’s bloodthirsty attitude and desire for revenge coupled with Lapis’ already potent abilities to fly and control a large body of water and this would make her very powerful as we’ve seen her battle against Alexandrite and even nearly defeat her but however she also has flaws. She’s very unstable physically and mentally, Garnet described her as a fusion “bound by anger and mistrust” and once that trust snaps it would destroy both of them, because Jasper hates the Crystal Gems (particularly Rose for “shattering” Pink) and Lapis hates Jasper for hurting and abusing her as well as threatening to harm Steven and Malachite does not have a true personality rather a warp version of Lapis and Jasper’s mixed so if one of her components regained control she would hesitate in her thoughts a little as she did noticeably before Jasper finally took control. So despite her being more powerful Malachite does have her own flaws and weaknesses. You could also say Aquamarine and Topaz because technically the Crystal Gems never defeated them and their mission more or less was a success.
For Aquamarine despite being very small in stature, she is quite elusive and tactical, being able to come up with plans or blackmail. Her wand also compensates somewhat as she was capable of knocking Steven out cold as well as paralyzing everyone including Alexandrite who is a massive fusion. Aquamarine was even able to play dirty and loop around orders by telling Topaz they do not need the humans alive in order to force them to stand down and cooperate, you could say she is powerful as well but not physique or skill rather in tactical knowledge and high intellect but through her size is also a disadvantage as Topaz easily restrained her and could’ve poofed her as well had she not used talked her out of it, though this can be up for debate as she shows expert diplomacy enough to get Topaz to stand down also she has returned in future though more of a nuisance than an actual threat as her wand was confiscated and disposed of due to the dawn of Era 3 where all material offensive gem weapons were made illegal. While she and her fusion partner Eyeball seek vengeance towards Steven for ruining their lives the 2 are quite incompetent and not necessarily a threat towards Steven due to his already potent powers and was easily defeated and literally squashed by the Crystal Gems quickly and easily on their part.
You could say Topaz as she is a fusion of 2 Topazes, Sugar described her as particularly powerful, obviously, she is very strong and big enough to make the ground shake and ominous music plays when she enters the scene. She easily despatched Garnet a strong and formidable fusion herself but however Topaz was also playing dirty at the time by threatening the lives of the humans as we never did see her actually fight the Crystal Gems in a fair fight, also Topaz’s weakness is revealed to be her emotions as she became sentimental towards Steven and Lars to the point of crying and wanted to help the 2 before being talked out of it by Aquamarine because she deeply cares about herself.
So it can’t be Topaz, Jasper, Aquamarine, or even Malachite. So it ranges between Garnet, Lapis Lazuli, The Diamonds themselves, and Spinel. For Garnet, she is sleek, powerful, and knows how and where to strike. Amethyst and Pearl know they are weaker compared to Garnet as she is very powerful. Garnet endures physical trauma and activities daily as you can often see her warping in the temple with a corrupted gem bubbled or an object she obtained. Her future vision goes toe to toe with her abilities as she is able to foresee danger or predict how to counter an enemy, though she admits she’s not perfect and does make mistakes from time to time or poorly thought out plans. Regardless, Garnet's willpower (and the fact that she swore to fight and exist as herself) is what drives her to succeed as she managed to defeat Jasper and stood up against the Diamonds openly (despite fearing and hating them before). So she could be up for consideration, though Garnet isn’t inherently invincible though she is quite resilient and tough she does have her own weaknesses as she is not immune to technology designed to specifically poof gems or Yellow Diamond who easily despatched and poofed her when she disrupted the ball by fusing; another weakness of Garnet is that being a fusion she does fall apart from emotional distress which has been seen many times.
Another possibility is Lapis Lazuli, a gem with an incredible ability to control water to a fascinating degree. Since her debut, she has shown amazing power. Even with a cracked gem, she was able to control the entire Atlantic ocean and use it as a space elevator. Lapis was even able to create water duplicates of the Crystal Gems and fight them all to a standstill. Jasper herself was amazed by Lapis’ abilities and considered her a monster compared to Jasper. Water isn’t also Lapis’ strong suit, her willpower, and desire for freedom is also her greatest power as she managed to mentally imprison Jasper within the mind of Malachite (as well as the fusion itself) even when it was clear she was trying to cancel and escape the fusion, Lapis remained in control not even letting up for a second and only stopped briefly because Steven kept distracting her despite all it was an excellent feat. Her trauma and past experiences trapped in a mirror, as well as Malachite, allowed her to overcome the likes of Blue Diamond (who can let out a pathogenic aura that causes gems to tear and submit to her pain) and even restrain her and keep her from using her powers. Though Lapis is a powerful gem herself she suffers from psychological weaknesses (though following her becoming a Crystal Gem she overcame them) as she was trapped in the mirror for thousands of years and Malachite as she “allowed” Jasper to thrash and push her around despite being powerful herself and due to her experiences as Malachite she suffered some emotional wounds becoming deadpan for some time, though she lived peacefully on earth she still has not overcome the wounds as she refused to get caught in another war against the Diamonds and desired to leave the planet when she believed they were coming though eventually she came back deciding to fight and permanently overcame the wounds and accepting her trauma. So it can be speculated that Lapis is one of the most powerful; this once again is up for debate when she even overcomes 2 other Lapis Lazuli’s and easily subdued and even scares them when she demonstrated her superior power compared to them.
You can also say the Diamonds. They are all-powerful and possess auras that can affect a gem to some degree. Pink can use her aura to heal gems, Blue’s aura can cause gems’ emotional state to be altered, Yellow’s aura can physically alter and destabilize making her quite powerful and deadly, and White can control gems including her fellow diamonds. Though the underdog appears to Pink as Steven (who took her form when his gem was removed) used a bubble to reflect it and incapacitate White. The diamonds as a collective are powerful enough to destabilize most of the Crystal Gems leaving only Bismuth unaffected. Yellow Diamond is also an expert tactician as when battling the Crystal Gems she immediately figured out Lapis was their most powerful member and poofed her to prevent them from gaining the upper hand choosing her out of Garnet or Bismuth. Also when intending to destroy the earth as well as take over other colonies. She created the cluster project however what she didn’t account was that the shards were sentient rather than mindless and it managed to side with the Crystal Gems and fought against her.
Last but not least, you can say Spinel. I know what you’re thinking, “What Spinel, I don’t think so she’s no match for the Diamonds or Lapis.” but Spinel is actually fairly powerful in her own way. I know everyone was wondering how they were gonna top Change Your Mind considering the amazing ending to the show itself. Spinel actually proved to be twice the threat the Diamonds were considering she used her unorthodox movements to disorient the Crystal Gems and showed great tactical knowledge. Compared to her former self she was bubbly and often careless but now she is shown to be very malevolent, intelligent, and formidable. She proved to have great tactical knowledge and intelligence as she had access to a gem rejuvenator and a special injector filled with bio-poison capable of killing an entire planet and it’s inhabitants. It’s interesting to note the diamonds tried to destroy the earth with a gem geo-weapon but unlike Spinel they failed at the plan whereas her plan partially succeeded as the poison was injected into the earth successfully but due to her rushing the plan Beach City took the brunt of poison. Unlike many gems, Spinel seems to know a thing or two about humans despite presumably never encountering them considering she understood Steven was not Pink and was aware his human half would suffer after resetting his gem. Compared to the Diamonds Spinel seems much more bloodthirsty and willing to kill or destroy anyone in her way whereas the Diamonds do not enjoy killing or punishing gems and will offer chances to redeem them unless their crime is too great. Also, the amazing feat Spinel preformed was poofing the main crystal gems almost instantly after first meet something, not even Jasper or the Diamonds ever done and even better she used a gem rejuvenator which resets a gem to their default programming to ensure that her mission to take away Pink’s friends was complete. Spinel’s tactical knowledge proved worthwhile as only she knew how to control the injector as none of the Crystal Gems knew what to do. With the gem rejuvenator which takes the form of a scythe, Spinel proved to be deadly and it went in tone with her stretching abilities and was able to cut down the Crystal Gems quickly after summoning it. Spinel also seems to be fairly formidable as well though she was no match for Garnet herself when engaged in hand to hand combat and fought Steven to a standstill arguably Spinel can be considered dangerously powerful due to her knowledge, resources, and abilities.
So in my opinion arguably Spinel would be the most powerful considering she is dangerously intelligent and used her resources in abilities, not even the Diamonds or Jasper would do as they were much more hands-on when battling the Crystal Gems while Spinel used many tricks, tactics, and technology to disorient them.
Comments