Rocknaldo (Steven Universe) – Overly Animated Podcast #329
By: Dylan Hysen
Dylan Hysen, Delaney Stovall, and Sam Quattro discuss the February 24th episode of Steven Universe, “Rocknaldo”.
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Dylan Hysen
Dylan is a software developer from the DC area who hosts the Overly Animated podcast discussing everything animation.
9 Comments
Well the episode to me was… ok. I didn’t particularly love or hate it. It was another one of those episodes where if someone asked ” do I need to watch this episode, to understand the current plot?” I would say no. The thing that bothers me about SU is that they have like 3-5 plot episodes in a row then after like 10 non consequential episodes. To me this is not good, production wise because it leaves the audience bored. I want to be excited for SU to come on each week, not see a episode description then sigh because it’s a townie episode. The show should mostly focus on Steven, Connie and all of the other gems. That to me is that appeal to the show not Ronaldo, Onion and etc. Or they should just find a fresh new way to make the non plot episodes interesting.
But anyways back to the actual episode. The most appealing part was the gems. I enjoyed all of their lines. Pearl not wanting Ronaldo to join the crystal gems was funny. Garnet’s clap when Steven made his speech about the crystal gems, and Amethyst impersonating Ronaldo was hilarious.
But that BloodStone promo from Cartoonetwork was like ugh. I assumed it wasn’t going to be an actual gem, but the fact they entertained Ronaldo with a gemsona seemed Pointless. Then after being “scolded” by Steven he now wants to go solo? Like really Ronaldo? You should ready go back to your blog and leave the gem stuff to the pros. Hopefully from now on he won’t be so much of a jerk, minding his business when it comes to gem stuff.
Then when Ronaldo asked Steven why doesn’t he go by Rose Quartz, and Steven said that’s his mom’s name and “everyone who calls him that either kidnaps him or beats him up” reminded me of the bad associations with that name.
I thought this episode was really interesting. I liked how it showing us the interactions of people who want to be just like something or someone their interested in but doesn’t realize that the people there before don’t just revolve their story to you. Plus sometimes just getting some light plotted episodes is good,but I don’t like it when they just have light stuff for twelve episodes and only get important stuff in bombs.Plus when Amethyst said”Dad I’m home,blog blog blog” I died laughing.
A quick add-on: the description of Bloodstone bothered me. “A crushed up gem flowing through my bloodstream”. After Steven dealing with the Cluster and “Keeping It Together”, I have to imagine associating gem shards with “caring” had to bother him if he gave it enough thought.
(In advance, my apologies to Justin/whoever does the feedback pod for the ramble)
I thank you for not disparaging the r/stevenuniverse users among your listeners, but you are right that Ronaldo has become a standin for the dense conspiracy theorist who hangs out on 4chan and the darker corners of Reddit. I honestly enjoyed him in Rising Tides/Crashing Skies, and his background appearances in S3, but this episode was just uncomfortable to watch. When Peridot is self-centered, somehow it ends up being funny, but Ronaldo’s self-centered behavior comes off as just irritating. (What do you think the difference is? I can’t put it into words myself.) This was a weird episode, in that I laughed at a Ronaldo line, and then felt uncomfortable at him sending Steven out, and then laughing at Amethyst’s line, and it was just up and down the entire 11 minutes.
All in all, I hope this ends up being the low point of this post-Zoo lull in the show and we can throw episodes to the more neglected humans at some point (i.e. VIdalia, Peedee, maybe Jenny).
I think the reason Peridot’s more bearable is that: 1, she’s making progress, and 2, she has more of a reason to be unfamiliar with what she’s doing wrong.
I thought the gems stole this episode, they were hilarious especially Pearl, I am glad they were in it, if this was just a Steven and Ronaldo, I don’t know if I could stand it.
Did Ronaldo have progress or not? I do know this, since “Steven’s Dream”, Steven has not been afraid to let all this negative feelings, he is not taking guff from anyone. If this was earlier in the series Steven probably let Ronaldo get away with everything.
I want to see Connie / Ronaldo interaction, maybe the comics can show us that.
And I knew Ronaldo started negative about Connie, Steven was going to lose it, you don’t talk about Connie like that to Steven, how would he like it if Steven talked about Jane like that.
Well at least he is trying to be better, I don’t know if I will every like Ronaldo.
A question for you guys, is there a Ronaldo in Star vs the Forces of Evil, if so who? I am sorry just don’t see it.
Agreed that Pearl was a highlight here. Amethyst also got off some good moments (blog blog blog). I think the Connie thing bothered me particularly hard and I couldn’t recover from that moment on.
I don’t think there’s a Ronaldo equivalent in Star. The closest would be StarFan13, since she’s obsessive and an Internet-focused character, but she hasn’t been used enough to be annoying yet. Like Ronaldo, she’s probably best in the background.
No I was talking about someone who has lack of understanding of Star’s magic and Mewni, what not. But when it comes to just being a geek, Starfan13 except she is nice.
The only time I’ve seen a human question the existence of magic is the bumbling policeman who shows up every now and then. Otherwise, everyone seems rather accepting and don’t really fear Star or Mewni. Heck, Mewnipendence Day had a bunch of her classmates reenacting her nation’s historic battle.