I think bubbling has different forms, with the stasis-bubble and Steven's protective bubble and the separation-but-not-stasis bubbles used on the Cluster all being different examples of the same basic bubble technique. Every gem may be able to do some basic bubbling, as the Cluster shards bubbling each other and the Crystal Gems bubbling corrupted gems show, but Rose and Steven have unusual mastery of protective energy and can therefore put special force into their shield-bubbles. (The Cluster's bubbling strikes me as much more akin to the shield-bubbles than the stasis bubbles - maybe they couldn't have done that at all if Steven hadn't projected the "how" to them while inside their collective mind? It doesn't seem to be part of the usual gem repertoire.)
I agree that this episode had a lot of direct exposition we'd gotten through hints before, about Rose and the war and her secrets, and how much the rebellion was class-related. Not surprising, but interesting to see directly, and useful to watchers who hadn't been collecting every scrap of implied worldbuilding along the way. :D
My theory re: Pink Diamond is that she was Rose's master and Rose killed her, and that this was the first major action of the war, at least as far as Homeworld is concerned. (A subterranean* workers' movement was presumably already in progress.) Proof that Diamonds aren't infallible or unbreakable, and that they CAN be cast down, which would have been a spark to ignite gemkind's simmering class/caste issues.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2016-08-05 07:17 am (UTC)I agree that this episode had a lot of direct exposition we'd gotten through hints before, about Rose and the war and her secrets, and how much the rebellion was class-related. Not surprising, but interesting to see directly, and useful to watchers who hadn't been collecting every scrap of implied worldbuilding along the way. :D
My theory re: Pink Diamond is that she was Rose's master and Rose killed her, and that this was the first major action of the war, at least as far as Homeworld is concerned. (A subterranean* workers' movement was presumably already in progress.) Proof that Diamonds aren't infallible or unbreakable, and that they CAN be cast down, which would have been a spark to ignite gemkind's simmering class/caste issues.
*Possibly literally.