Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26198832-20150313040957

I don't think its fair to compare Steven Universe's Popularity with Adventure Time's.

I encounter this a lot on many websites. Adventure Time has aparently become the go to comparison for shows and wether or not they are worth watching. And I get the reason why, its fun and enjoyable on the surface, but has a clearly dark and imposing background to its story line. The level of story telling is superb. However....

Adventure Time should not be an example of how story should be done. Because by making it so, people are stifling the creativity in other shows. You're setting a cookie cutter example of exactly why you think this art form is the best and that others shouldn't even try if they aren't going to follow the Adventure Time formula.

For one thing Adventure time has been running longer and has had more time to develope its story and catch the eyes of others. Steven Universe will be finishing its first season tomorrow.

As an example I wasn't even aware Adventure Time existed until it was already in its third season. And while I love it, as it stands at the moment I think Steven Universe is better at telling its story (and that's just my personal opinion), Rebecca Sugar learned quite a bit during her time with Pendlelton Ward and the others on AT.

That's not to say that AT is bad..... its just... far more "off-putting" than Steven Universe. Had AT started airing back when I was a child, I would have lumped it in with all the nikelodeon shows I hated as a child just because, lets be honest, its incredibly weird and all the characters are just way to accepting of the odd things that happen around them. And I wouldn't have been capable of trying to care about any of its characters or the odd world they run around in. As an adult I have the maturity to look past the surface and see the things Adventure time truely has to offer, BUT the surface still plays a big part in how I see this show.

Steven... I would have probably lumped it in with the Disney shows that I enjoyed, the characters are incredibly likeable from the get go and they're apart of a world almost exactly like our own (save for the alien anthropomorphic gem people), which would have helped me immerse my self in the story more. There's also the fact that Steven has the potential to resonate with children more than Fin does. He deals with adults and relationships that most kids deal with in their own lives. People who don't tell you everything, who lie, and go out of their way to protect you because they think you aren't old enough or you "just aren't ready". That's something that practically everyone has dealt with as a child.

Yes you can say that Adventure time does that too, but its different. 99% of the characters in Adventure time are not Fin's parents or guardians (there is that 1% but he's kind of an ass and he's not really relevant until like the sixth season and even then you hardly see him), Fin also has a mectric ton more independence than Steven does, and while that caters more towards the fantasy aspect that children enjoy (the thought of running around slaying monsters and having wacky adventures, and smart impressionable princesses who have a solution for everything), realistically they'll see more of them selves in Steven than they will in Fin.

(yes I am aware that both AT and SU are apart of Cartoon Network. But kid me only really had Nikelodion and Disney avaiable to him so they're the barometer for this example.)

But anyways that's not the point I'm trying to make here. By constantly comparing the two you are to an extent preventing Steven Universe from being its own story. You aren't helping it becoming something others can enjoy, you're just turning into a bunch of:

"Steven is nothing Like Fin, He's such a child and he doesn't know anything." Of course he doesn't know anything, he's a fricken child surrounded by adults who think he isn't ready to deal with the world. And in many cases the adults that surrond Steven are both right and wrong.

All I'm asking is.... To stop comparing AT to SU. Yes they have an obvious connection in that Rebecca Sugar worked on Adventure Time before getting her own show. And the time she spent there was wonderful. I wouldn't trade "Good Little Girl" or "I'm just your problem" for the world.

But at the same time things like "Giant Woman" and "Stronger Than You" are so wonderful and infectious that now 6 hours after hearing that song I'm still singing Garnet's number to my self.

Rebecca Sugar has made wonderful contributions to the art of story telling and music in Adventure Time. And she continues to do that with Steven Universe and we have so much to look forward to in her work.

But in order to continue to do what she does she needs people to stop comparing Her work to someone elses. There isn't a point to comparing two works of art, as both pieces of art work are expressions of the people who made them. The people who put their blood, sweat and tears into making something they can share with others.

They do it so you can see what's best in them. Not so you can compare them to someone else and point out their faults.

If someone asks you about Steven Universe. Tell them what you think of it, be honest whether its good or bad, and then tell them to check it out for them selves. Let them form their own opinions and thoughts on the matter.

That's all I ask. 