Connie Maheswaran

"I don't know what will happen in the future, but if something dangerous comes along, I don't want to be a burden, I want to help! I want to be there for Steven, to fight by his side! The Earth is my home too, can't I help protect it?"

Connie Maheswaran is a character in Steven Universe. She is Steven's best friend. She debuted in the episode "Bubble Buddies".

Appearance
Connie is a young girl with dark skin and waist-length dark brown puffy hair. She has a prominent nose, thick eyebrows, and wears a pair of magenta lens-less glasses (with rose-colored lenses until "An Indirect Kiss"). She is slightly taller than Steven.

Connie is usually seen in a variety of different outfits and dresses. She usually wears light blue, green, and white clothing. In the season one intro, she is seen wearing a white and seafoam-green dress with her peach colored boots but with a sunhat and no socks. Her glasses also appear to have the lenses still intact. Currently since the events of Nightmare Hospital she has stopped wearing her glasses completely, and has stopped carrying her empty frames around.

From the season two intro forwards, Connie is sporting her lensless frames, red sneakers (with visible socks), high-waisted shorts, and a white tank-top with a buttoned collar. She now carries Rose's sword over her shoulder, as well as her glow bracelet. She also carries a book under her arm (likely The Unfamiliar Familiar).

Personality
Connie is introverted, curious and intelligent. Due to her parents' lifestyle, specifically her father's job, Connie rarely stays in one place for long and has been unable to form lasting friendships, which left her frequently feeling lonely. Her parents are very strict and don't allow her to participate in common childhood activities (such as eating donuts or anything with trans fats, although she ate one in Crack the Whip). This has led her to flat-out lie about Steven's non-nuclear family, due to paranoia at how they may react. Despite her obedience to her parents, Connie is not above exploiting loopholes, such as not buying snacks at a theater and instead bringing them from Steven's home.

Connie has grown used to the strange dynamic of her friendship with Steven despite her initial uncertainty of it, as in "Marble Madness" when the Gems destroy one of Peridot's robonoids in front of her, she reacts passively awed and only comments that she loves hanging out at Steven's place. She can be a bit deadpan at times, such as when she jokes about cutting off Steven's hand in "Lion 2: The Movie" and in that same instance quickly understands that by poking/tickling Steven she could provoke a reaction from Rose's Secret Armory. Her hobbies appear to include tennis and reading, and she also plays the violin, as seen in "Fusion Cuisine" and "Nightmare Hospital".

"Sworn to the Sword" shows a more confident and aggressive side to her personality as she learns how to use a sword. Due to Pearl's negative reinforcement, she also began to display a reckless side, but this was quickly put out by Steven. It also highlights her strong feelings for Steven through her dedication in becoming his knight. This boosted confidence is also shown in "Nightmare Hospital" when Connie stood up to her mother about her strict upbringing and rules, and also even revealed her involvement in magical affairs.

"Beach City Drift" emphasizes her level-headedness when she tells Steven she is "thinking mad" about Kevin, and when they de-fuse she is the one who convinces Steven that they have been obsessed with Kevin and to let go of their grudge.

Gem Hunt highlights Connie's confidence in while she respects and obeys Pearl, she pushes her to split up to hunt the gem monsters, and is the one who leads when she and Steven hunt the second monster through the forest. She is also revealed to have prepared for surviving in the wilderness by reading a book on wilderness survival. However, despite all her training and preparedness, Connie freezes during an encounter with one of the Gem monsters they were hunting. In the end, she chooses to call Pearl via Steven's walkie-talkie, which Pearl commended her for after their subsequent encounter with Jasper who they found had been hunting the Gem monsters.

"Crack the Whip" shows she is not afraid to barge into the Beach House while shouting surprise, showing how comfortable she has gotten around Steven and the other Gems, telling Garnet and Pearl to stay safe. The episode also shows a lighter side to her when she, Steven and Amethyst have fun around Beach City even eating a donut despite it going against what she told Steven in "Bubble Buddies" showing a growing independent side to her. She also confides in Steven and Amethyst about her freezing during her first mission, causing Amethyst to tell her to stop overthinking things and to follow her instincts in battle. She takes Amethyst's words to heart as she fares far better when she, Steven, Amethyst, and Lion encounter Jasper and the two Gem Monsters from "Gem Hunt" that she had tamed to take on the Crystal Gems. Together with Steven, she bravely confronts Jasper to prevent her from destroying Amethyst, fusing with Steven in mid-battle, allowing Stevonnie to save Amethyst and forcing Jasper and her remaining Gem Monster to retreat. After Amethyst regenerates, Connie tells her she was right about following her instincts.

"Buddy's Book" shows both her studiousness and independence in that she originally goes to the library with Steven to study and prepare for the upcoming school year, only to instantly halt her studies when Steven shows her Buddy's journal.

"Mindful Education" further highlights her growth and confidence when she tells Steven how she instinctively attacked a schoolmate who bumped into her, and later how she apologized to him, made friends with him and took a selfie with him, something the Connie at the beginning of the series would have never done.

Skillset

 * Swordsmanship: As of "Sworn to the Sword", Connie has become skilled in the art of sword-fighting with Pearl as her mentor. She was able to work in partnership with Steven and his shield. She can attack swiftly with light attacks or with power in heavy attacks.
 * Tag-team combat: Due to the close bond they share, Steven can coordinate his shield techniques perfectly with Connie's swordplay, such as fighting back-to-back to defend and attack simultaneously or catapulting Connie from his shield for a powerful lunge attack.
 * Wide Intellect: Connie is shown to be very intelligent for her age, knowing a lot about boats, reading very hard books (she enjoys reading hard books like The Spirit Morph Saga and also enjoys reading non-fiction books for fact and to get smarter than she already is )having proficiency in tennis, violin playing, and sword fighting, having an extensive vocabulary, and even managing to find loopholes in her parents' many rules. In Gem Hunt, she is shown to be very prepared and intelligent when it comes to surviving in the wilderness, thanks to reading a book.
 * Survival Skills: Connie is shown to have very impressive survival skills, thanks to reading a book 20 times all about it. Thanks to her book, she has adapted these skills and because of this, she was perfectly able to locate a spot to hide from the Gem Monsters, and she was able to make a very healthy, Vitamin C-rich tea out of pine needles.
 * Hand-to-Hand Combat: In addition to her swordsmanship, in "Mindful Education", it is revealed that Connie possesses some hand-to-hand combat skills, presumably through her combat training under Pearl. Due to her training, she was able to grab a fellow student at her school by the arm and throw him to the ground, breaking his arm in the process, albeit unintentionally as he had accidentally bumped into her which caused her to attack and injure him instinctually.
 * Heightened Reflexes: As shown in "Mindful Education", Connie's reflexes have been honed to such an extent that she reacts to a perceived threat before she knows what's she's doing as seen when she attacked a fellow student who bumped into her without realizing it until after she had done it.

Weaponry
Rose's Sword: In Nightmare Hospital, the sword is given to Connie by Steven because she is learning to sword-fight. She uses the sword to protect her mother and Steven from the Cluster Gems. In Gem Hunt she is seen comfortably carrying the sword on her back and drawing it over her shoulder. Interestingly enough, despite the sword's size, Connie is able to wield it with little effort. It is unknown if it is because of the sword's magical properties, or if Pearl's training helped Connie achieved a level of strength fit to use it. She also uses Rose's scabbard. She has used the weapon in all further appearances pairing it with Steven and his shield in combat situations and using it during sparring matches with him.

Fusions

 * When fused with Steven, they form Stevonnie.

Steven
Steven first saw Connie about a year before the start of the series during a parade. He saw her drop her bracelet and decided to keep it in his freezer so he could return it the next time he saw her. She also remembered seeing him on his father's float, mentioning the soap bubbles in his hair. He becomes her first friend. Although Connie sometimes feels like her life is rather mundane compared to Steven's, they are currently good friends, and share a mutual crush on each other as seen in "An Indirect Kiss" and "Alone Together" (in the latter of which Steven and Connie accidentally fuse, forming Stevonnie). Connie is frequently shown to be affectionate to Steven, occasionally in a romantic way (e.g. "An Indirect Kiss" when she leaned for a kiss, and in "Steven's Birthday" when she rested her head on Steven's chest after their slow dance). Connie has demonstrated that she cares deeply for Steven, such as in "Full Disclosure" when she repeatedly called and visited him to make sure he was okay, even going as far as to say she wanted to "be a part of his universe", and since "Sworn to the Sword" Connie has shown interest in joining Steven in his adventures with the Gems, training with Pearl to defend him. To further prove this statement, in "Steven's Birthday", Connie mentions not caring what age it seemed like Steven was, and that she would want to hang out with him no matter what. She also panicked when she thought Steven reverted into a zygote (or Steven shrunk out of existence if simplified). "Beach City Drift" shows along with their love for each other, they have a strong partnership shown in their interactions and discussion over their feelings over Kevin and the ease with which they fuse into Stevonnie. Steven depends on Connie's good sense, while Connie relies on Stevens courage, emotional support, and insight which has helped her grow into the person she is today.

Mr. Maheswaran and Dr. Maheswaran
Connie is very loyal to her parents. While they tend to be strict, they want the best for her and want her to be smart, orderly, and healthy. She closely follows their orders but does occasionally exploit loopholes or even lies to them to get away with something if necessary. In the episode "We Need to Talk", Connie reveals that her parents do not know of her adventures with Steven. This may be because of her fear that her parents will prevent her from seeing Steven due to the huge risk she willingly submits to every time they hang out.

"Nightmare Hospital" explores Connie's relationship with her mother in more detail. Dr. Maheswaran is very strict with her, enforcing many rules on her that she never retracts for any reason. As a result, Connie is prone to lying to her about her adventures with Steven. She remains distrustful of Connie when they and Steven are cornered by Gem fusion experiments at the hospital. However, after the ordeal, she agrees to be more accepting of Steven's influence in her life and much less micromanaging about Connie's life. (Although it is currently unknown exactly how accepting Mr. Maheswaran is of Steven's influence on Connie.) In Gem Hunt, it is inferred that her parents have allowed her to go on a mission with Steven and Pearl provided Steven take pictures to document the event.

Crystal Gems
Connie is on good terms with the Crystal Gems. In "Bubble Buddies", they were excited to meet her. Pearl says in "Full Disclosure" that she does not understand human relationships when she is looking for Steven, though Pearl likely used her social ignorance to avoid answering where Steven was.

Pearl
Connie has not been shown to have any extended interaction with the Gems with the exception of Pearl, with whom she shares a mutually respectful mentor-student relationship since "Sworn to the Sword". This is where she also convinced Pearl to teach her sword fighting by appearing very passionate about staying by Steven's side to fight with him, which clearly struck a chord with Pearl to the point of tears, considering her own dedication to Rose Quartz. Gem Hunt expounds on their relationship, showing that Connie views Pearl as a respected and beloved teacher who she seeks to impress through finding the Gem monster.

Amethyst
In "Crack the Whip", Amethyst is left in charge of Connie and Steven while Pearl and Garnet search for Jasper as Pearl had forgotten that Connie would be coming by for training that day. Amethyst tells Connie and Steven that they have the day off, though Connie and Steven decide to have a sparring session on the beach and try to get Amethyst to watch them. Amethyst notices Connie focusing on her stance and tells her to loosen up. When Connie confides in Amethyst and Steven about her freezing up during her first mission, Amethyst tells her to stop overthinking things and states that in a real battle that she should follow her instincts. Afterward, Connie spends the rest of day having fun with Steven and Amethyst. Connie takes Amethyst's advice to heart and during their later encounter with Jasper, Connie follows her instincts and fuses together with Steven to form Stevonnie, who manages to drive off Jasper. During the encounter with Jasper, Amethyst knowing how dangerous Jasper is, tells Connie and Steven to deal with one of Jasper's Gem monsters, while she deals with Jasper on her own. After she regenerates after she was "poofed" by Jasper, Amethyst is surprised to find that Stevonnie had managed to drive off Jasper and that Connie and Steven didn't need her help, causing her to question her usefulness, despite Connie's assertion that Amethyst's advice to follow her instincts allowed her to confront Jasper alongside Steven.

Garnet
Connie, like Steven has high respect for Garnet, and she returns the same feeling. In "Mindful Education" Garnet is excited to see them fight as Stevonnie. Garnet reveals a sign with Steven and Connie’s names on one side, and then Stevonnie’s on the other, and Steven takes this as a “fusion joke”, showing how open and supportive she is not just of Stevonnie, but the friendship they have as well. Connie still seems depressed by the time they are at the arena, and Garnet cheers them on as they compete while using the sign she made for them. After they fall, Steven finds Connie on the steps behind the area, near the warp pad, and decides to talk to her about the way she’s been acting. Connie admits that she beat up a kid at school, and Steven is shocked, asking her to explain more about the situation. Connie claims that her training instinct just “kicked in” and her actions were accidental. Steven tells Connie not to think about it, but Garnet interrupts and takes the kids to the beach to meditate with her as Stevonnie, showing her concern extending to the two of them. Garnet meditates with Stevonnie and sings the song "Here Comes a Thought". With the visuals and influence she provides, Connie finally accepts to confront her demons, taking Garnet's advice to heart.

Greg Universe
Connie is on good terms with Greg, since Fusion Cuisine, and her parents had given approval of Greg and Steven.He and Connie offered to go with Steven in his mission no matter what danger they could face in Ocean Gem, showing that they both care for Steven deeply. In We Need to Talk, Greg is surprised that they could fuse into Stevonnie, but does not seem to be completely shocked. He then says interaction between humans and Gems is still new, and that Steven and Connie will have to work with it. He also tells Connie that if she needs another human to talk to, he's there for her.

Lion
Because they both care about Steven, Connie and Lion have a friendly connection to each other.Though hesitant in the first place, Connie quickly warmed up and was fascinated by Lion. He seems to return the feeling as shown when Steven was falling from the sky in Ocean Gem and they teamed up to rescue him. Steven and Connie often take Lion to travel to places in Beach City and he has grown to becoming used to having Connie. In Buddy's Book, Connie compliments Lion's parking showing how friendly they had grown from Connie's perspective.

Kevin
Connie first encounters Kevin as Stevonnie in "Alone Together". Since their encounter, both Steven and Connie hold a negative opinion of him, an attitude carrying over in "Beach City Drift". While Steven's dislike towards Kevin is overt and hostile, Connie's is more subdued and internal. While racing him, Connie is the first to realize how obsessed they are in getting back at him, and they both decide to let go of their anger.

Jasper
Connie first encountered Jasper on her first mission in the Great North, and was left in awe of the Quartz Gem's strength and combat prowess. As of "Crack the Whip", she appears to share the Crystal Gems' mutual dislike of Jasper and willingly fused with Steven in order to defeat her.

Jeff
Appearing in "Mindful Education", Jeff is a student who goes to the same school as Connie, whom she unintentionally attacked and injured instinctively after he accidentally bumped into her at school. This caused Connie to feel guilty for hurting him, though she buried her feelings instead of confronting them, which later caused her and Steven to have trouble maintaining their fusion as Stevonnie during their fusion training under Pearl and Garnet. With help from Garnet, Connie eventually decided to deal with the problem head on instead of trying to ignore it, and apologized to Jeff. She was later relieved to discover that Jeff held no hard feelings towards her and surprised when she learned he wanted her to teach him some of her martial arts moves. As a result, the two have become friends.

Shorts

 * "We are the Crystal Gems" (cameo)

Trivia

 * Connie’s surname, Maheswaran, means “Lord of Universe” in Hindi and is also traditionally a Tamil surname.
 * Connie is directly referred to as Steven's girlfriend in commercials in Portugal as well as numerous other European countries.
 * Both of Connie's parents are Indian-American.
 * Kat Morris created Connie's character.
 * Connie appears in the title sequence as the "Mr. Universe" van drives by, causing a breeze that she looks towards. She holds the book A Wrinkle in Time.
 * In the second intro, she is shown wielding Rose's Sword and an unknown book with a bookmark inside. Instead of a breeze, she looks towards the end of the road with a smile and pops out of the street and runs to the Crystal Temple.
 * She is able to write backward. This is seen in the very short amount of time it took her to write "Harpoon Gun" on the inside of the bubble in "Bubble Buddies".
 * It is revealed in "Lion 2: The Movie" that Connie plays tennis, and is shown describing it as the only thing that she remotely enjoys in her life.
 * According to writer Matt Burnett, Connie is of Indian heritage.
 * Following the events of "An Indirect Kiss", Connie can now see normally without her glasses thanks to the healing powers in Steven's saliva. Because she wanted to avoid confrontation with her parents and optometrist about this, she took out the lenses of her glasses and wore the frames instead.
 * Following the events of "Nightmare Hospital", she no longer wears glasses, having informed her mother that she no longer requires them. In all further episodes, she no longer carries the frames.
 * It is revealed in "Mirror Gem" that Connie plays the violin.
 * In "Winter Forecast", Connie says "itadakimasu", a Japanese word said before eating. She has stated that her father travels, so Connie may know more than one language.
 * In "Sworn to the Sword", Connie's outfit and fighting style were inspired by Kalaripayattu.
 * She wields a sword resembling the Khanda, a sword typically used in the style.
 * Her hairstyle is a braid typically worn by female Kalaripayattu practitioners.
 * Connie is shown to be ambidextrous in the episode "Sworn to the Sword". When she is training, she is seen holding her sword with her right hand; when she fights Pearl with Steven, she is using her left hand.
 * Despite saying her family moves around a lot, she has kept the same home for well over a year.
 * In "Nightmare Hospital", it's revealed that she hates the punishment abacus, which is what her parents use to calculate the length of punishments for her.
 * It is revealed in "Steven's Birthday" that Connie is 12¾ years old.
 * A girl resembling Connie makes a brief appearance in the OVA Little Witch Academia: The Enchanted Parade.
 * In Gem Hunt, Connie carries Rose's sword on her back with the hilt over her shoulder. This is similar to many Anime characters who carry giant swords the same way such as Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach and Guts from Berserk. It also shows that Connie and Pearl have many traits in common such as intelligence, attention to detail and a tendency to be overly hard on themselves in the face of perceived failure.

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