Steven Universe (Fandom)

Steven Universe is an American animated television series created by Rebecca Sugar for Cartoon Network.

Plot
In Steven Universe, the world is protected from evil threats by the Crystal Gems, a movement of Gems sworn to protect the Earth from the Homeworld Gems. Their power flow from their gemstones; magical gems embedded somewhere on the host's body. The four original Crystal Gems are: Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Steven.

Steven is a young boy who inherited a gemstone from his mother, a Crystal Gem named Rose Quartz. As Steven tries to figure out the secrets to using his gem, he spends his days in Beach City doing activities with the other Crystal Gems, whether it's helping them save the universe or just hanging out.

Fandom
Steven Universe's fandom started to form after the first pilot aired in 2013. There was interest in the series as it's creator, Rebecca Sugar, had worked as a storyboard artist and writer on Adventure Time, and additionally had become the first woman to be a creative lead on a cartoon at Cartoon Network. Actually Steven Universe has a broad and active fandom, including on Tumblr.

Controversies
In 2015, a young fan called Zamii who drew fan art of Steven Universe and other fictional characters was made subject to an intense cyberbullying campaign through Tumblr and eventually attempted suicide. The reason for the harassment was that her art altered the appearance of characters in ways that were deemed objectionable; for instance, her drawing of the voluptuous Rose as a thin woman was criticized as "fat phobic" by other fans. There was no definitive conclusion to the event however it was reported on by several news outlets and remains a polarizing moment within the fandom, earning its reputation of how extreme it can be.

In 2016, storyboard artist and writer Lauren Zuke deleted her Twitter account following harassment by fans because of her perceived support for Lapidot over other ships such as Amedot. The entire kerfuffle was based on subjective fan interpretation of some leaked art and had more to do with fans' headcanon than the artists' intentions.

Shipping
Many of the pairings in this fandom are referred to in portmanteau format. This is only made somewhat confusing by the fact that two or more gems can also fuse together and become a whole new gem with a new name. The current ships confirmed to be canon are Connieven, Larsadie, Gregrose and Rupphire.

Het

 * Connieven - the ship between Steven Universe and Connie Maheswaran
 * Larsadie - the ship between Lars Barriga and Sadie Miller

Non-binary

 * Pearlnet – the ship between Garnet and Pearl
 * Garnethyst - the ship between Garnet and Amethyst
 * Pearlmethyst – the ship between Amethyst and Pearl
 * Amedot – the ship between Amethyst and Peridot
 * Lapithyst - the ship between Amethyst and Lapis Lazuli
 * Pearlrose - the ship between Pearl and Rose Quartz
 * Pearlmethyst – the ship between Pearl and Amethyst
 * Pearlapis – the ship between Pearl and Lapis Lazuli
 * Rupphire - the ship between Ruby and Sapphire
 * Gregrose - the ship between Greg Universe and Rose Quartz
 * Lapidot – the ship between Lapis Lazuli and Peridot
 * Jaspis – the ship between Lapis Lazuli and Jasper
 * Bellow Diamond - the ship between Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamond

Polyships

 * Polygems - the ship between Pearl, Garnet and Amethyst