Peridot (Squaridot)

"Prepare for humiliating defeat!"

Peridot, nicknamed Squaridot for her square hair, is an Era 2 Homeworld Gem and a boss in Save the Light.

Appearance
Squaridot has an olive-green complexion (darker than the Crystal Gems' Peridot) and chartreuse-yellow hair in the shape of a rectangular prism. A white visor covers the top half of her face, and her triangular gemstone replaces her left eye.

Squaridot wears a green and black Homeworld uniform with a bulky upper torso and spherical shoulder pads. Her stomach and knees bear Yellow Diamond's insignia. She is equipped with limb enhancers on her arms and legs, indicating that she is an Era 2 Peridot.

Personality
According to Rebecca Sugar, Squaridot has a similar mindset to Peridot's from before she was stranded on Earth and joined the Crystal Gems.

To elaborate, Squaridot is wholly devoted to her mission on Earth, and sees anything that gets in her way as an obstacle to be crushed. Much like Peridot, she believes that Steven represents an entire species that shares his name; she never seems to recant this belief. Finally, she is deeply loyal to her superiors, and seems to hold Yellow Diamond in the highest regard possible; as she fantasized of being praised by her as the most wonderful thing she could ever hope for.

Further reinforcing her similarities to pre-stranded Peridot is her pride in running a smooth and efficient operation. Whenever something happens to interfere with her plans, she exhibits a mixture of panic and frustration, leading her to display erratic behavior in combat. When she and Peridot got into an argument over their conflicting ideals, their bickering devolved into a volley of shouted insults, highlighting their mutual stubborn streak and temper issues.

Like Peridot, Squaridot also prefers to rely on the weapons provided to her by Homeworld to make up for her lack of innate powers as an Era 2 gem. In her case, she falls back on the assault pod she was piloting in her boss fight, and only pulls out the weapons of her limb enhancers when fed up with Peridot's insults.

Finally, Squaridot's beliefs run deeply close to those once held by Peridot, in that she deems organic life inherently inferior and believes that any gem that fails to adhere to Homeworld's rigid caste system is hopelessly defective. She mocked Peridot for losing her limb enhancers, and steadfastly refused to listen to the latter's insistence that there was nothing wrong with abandoning Homeworld's beliefs.

Save the Light
Squaridot was a Peridot assigned to Hessonite's command, and came to Earth with her in order to track down the Light Prism. When the Crystal Gems' search for answers takes them to The Great North, they come across Squaridot making a field report. Spotting them, the Homeworld Peridot seems initially surprised to see other Gems on Earth, but quickly dismisses them as an evident obstacle that must be obliterated. Vowing to earn her superiors' praise, Squaridot boards her Attack Pod and engages the Crystal Gems in battle.

After her defeat, Squaridot remains defiant as the Crystal Gems capture her, swearing that she'll never betray her superior. As this unfolds, Steven realizes that this situation is similar to when Peridot first arrived on Earth. As the Peridot he knows ended up joining the Crystal Gems, Steven theorizes that maybe Squaridot can also be convinced to join them like Peridot did.

When they bring Squaridot to the barn, she sees Peridot without her enhancers and comments how "naked" and "detatched" she is; and snickers under her breath about how she's glad that she's not Peridot. The two start arguing over their conflicting ideals, and the situation devolves into a shouting match until Squaridot activates her Limb Enhancers' energy weapon function and aims it at Peridot. At Steven's cry for help, Garnet, Amethyst or Pearl poofs Squaridot with one blow and Garnet bubbles her for good measure.

Abilities
Squaridot presumably possesses the standard abilities of an Era 2 Peridot, including bubbling, regeneration, and superhuman durability. It's unclear, however, whether she has the same potential for magnetic manipulation the way Peridot does.

Tools

 * Limb Enhancers: Mechanical body extensions that compensate for Squaridot's assumed lack of natural powers. While she isn't seen using them to the same extent as Peridot did, Squaridot's tools include the same digital computer and energy gun that were witnessed in Peridot's limb enhancers.
 * Attack Pod: Manned combat vehicle that Squaridot may summon at will.

Trivia

 * When poofed by Garnet in Save The Light, her limb enhancers don't appear to fall to the ground, implying that they may be able to poof with the gem.
 * According to Grumpyface Studios, her Limb Enhancers were destroyed during her poofing.

Gemology
Gemstone Information


 * Peridot is a gem-quality variety of olivine. It belongs to the forsterite-fayalite mineral series. Peridot is an idiochromatic gem, meaning its color comes from the basic chemical composition of the mineral itself and not from minor traces of impurities.
 * Olivine, of which peridot is a type, is a common mineral in mafic and ultramafic rocks, and it is often found in lavas and in peridotite xenoliths of the mantle, which lavas carry to the surface; but gem quality peridot only occurs in a fraction of these settings. Peridots can also be found in meteorites.
 * Olivine, in general, is a very abundant mineral, but gem quality peridot is rather rare. This is due to the mineral's chemical instability on the Earth's surface. Olivine is usually found as small grains and tends to exist in a heavily weathered state, unsuitable for decorative use. Large crystals of forsterite, the variety most often used to cut peridot gems, are rare; as a result, olivine is considered to be precious.
 * Peridot is the official birthstone for the month of August as adopted by the American National Association of Jewelers in 1912. It is also the stone for the Zodiac sign of Libra. Peridot is assigned to the planet Saturn. It may be given as a gem on the sixteenth wedding anniversary.
 * Peridot is one of the few gemstones that occur in only one color, an olive-green. The intensity and tint of the green, however, depends on how much iron is contained in the crystal structure, so the color of individual peridot gems can vary from yellow—to olive—to brownish-green. Its vivid green color does not change under artificial light.
 * Chemically, peridot is a magnesium iron silicate, and its intensity of color depends on the amount of iron it contains. There may also be traces of nickel and chromium present.
 * The best-colored peridot has an iron percentage of less than 15% and typically includes some trace elements of nickel and chromium, which contribute to its color. The most valued color is a dark olive-green.
 * Peridot is the gem variety of olivine and ranges between 6.5 and 7 on the Mohs scale of hardness. It is not particularly sensitive to acid, but it does have a brittle tenacity.
 * The name "Peridot" is believed to have originated from the Arabic word faridat, meaning "gem", or, as the Oxford English Dictionary suggests, it came from classical Latin pæderot – a kind of opal.
 * The ancient Romans called it 'evening emerald' since its color did not darken at night, but could still be appreciated by candlelight and the light of a campfire.
 * Peridot is a healing gemstone often associated with peace, compassion, and harmony of relationships. Its powers are thought to promote growth and renewal while alleviating negative emotions such as guilt, resentment, and apathy.
 * It is a gem especially connected with ancient Egypt, and some historians believe that the famous emeralds of Cleopatra were actually peridot gems.
 * Peridot olivine is mined in Arkansas, Arizona on the San Carlos Reservation, Hawaii, Nevada, and New Mexico at Kilbourne Hole, in the US; in Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, Kenya, Mexico, Myanmar (Burma), Norway, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania.
 * The name chrysolite was formerly applied not only to peridot but also many similarly colored stones.
 * Even though peridots existed in ancient history, at one point they vanished until some were found 30 years ago in Pakistan.