Steven Universe                                                                                                        

Steven Universe is a coming-of-age story told from the perspective of Steven, the youngest member of the Crystal Gems, a team of magic guardians who protect the planet Earth.
The animated series was conceived as part of the "Shorts Development Initiative" at Cartoon Network Studios and is created by Emmy and Annie Award-nominated writer and storyboard artist, Rebecca Sugar, Cartoon Network's first solo non-binary show creator!

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 powers flow from their gemstones; magical gems embedded somewhere on the host's body. The four Crystal Gems are Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven. Multiple gems, such as Peridot, Lapis Lazuli, Bismuth and a human, Connie Maheswaran has also joined the team. Steven is a young half-human, half-gem boy who inherited his gemstone from his mother, a Crystal Gem named Rose Quartz, who gave up her form to create Steven. 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.

Development

Concept and Creation

The titular character, Steven, is roughly based on Sugar's younger brother Steven Sugar,^[6] who is now a background artist for the online web series, Bravest Warriors, created by Pendleton Ward of Adventure Time fame (he is a background artist for Steven Universe as well). Growing up, Sugar would create miscellaneous comics between herself and Steven, as well as with other friends.^[7] In an interview with The New York Times, she commented on the development of the titular character's background, expressing her desire to base the character from the viewpoint of her brother growing up "where you're so comfortable in your life because you get all the attention, but you also want to rise up and not be the little brother."^[8] The show is set in the fictional Beach City, which is loosely based on Rehoboth Beach, Bethany Beach, and Dewey Beach, Delaware, all places that Sugar visited as a child.^[6]

Production

According to Sugar, production began on the show concurrently while working on Adventure Time. Her last episode for the series was "Simon & Marcy", in which working on both simultaneously "became impossible to do". Similarly, she would encounter difficulty around the production of the episode "Fionna and Cake".