Spinel

"Gee, it's swell to finally meet her other friends!"

Spinel is the main antagonist of Steven Universe: The Movie.

Current
Spinel has a pink complexion, magenta eyes, a small pointy nose, and magenta hair that is styled into a pair of jagged pigtails. She also has three black lines underneath both of her eyes, reminiscent of running mascara. Her clothing consists of a dark magenta top, puffy pointed hot pink sleeves, puffy magenta shorts, hot pink wrist-length gloves, white stockings and a pair of magenta knee-high pointy boots.

Her gemstone is located in the center of her chest, cut in the shape of an upside-down heart.

Previous
When reset to her original self, Spinel's overall design is more rounded in contrast to her current pointy design. She had black cartoonish looking eyes, and her hair was styled into a pair of heart-shaped buns. Her top was white with more rounded pink sleeves, and her boots become a pair of big magenta shoes. Overall, her appearance was similar to that of an old-fashioned cartoon.

Her gemstone is now flipped to resemble a normal heart.

Personality
Originally, Spinel had a goofy, fun-loving personality, being Pink Diamond's best friend to the point of being clingy.

In stark contrast to her original personality, upon being abandoned — and learning that Pink is gone (and that Steven has taken her place) and of Pink's other friends — Spinel is bitter, full of resentment towards Pink Diamond, Steven Universe, and all of their affiliates.

Due to her abandonment by Pink Diamond, Spinel is very mentally unhinged, being prone to psychotic laughter and outbursts of extreme anger when reminded even indirectly that Pink Diamond forgot about her. This is seen when her face contorts with fury after Steven asked Pearl who she was.

Despite her anger and psychosis, Spinel is somewhat trusting as she is willing to go along with Steven to stop her injector before she sees the Rejuvenator and believes he wanted to reset her. Fearing of being betrayed for a second time, Spinel immediately relapsed into insanity and decides that she hates Steven personally, before launching a preemptive attack on him.

Spinel is fueled by her vendetta against Pink Diamond and is willing and able to eliminate anyone who gets in her way. This is seen when she resets Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst immediately after they just met, as they got between her and Pink, although she may have had every intention of erasing Pink's "new friends" that replaced her in her misplaced fit of rage. She displays a multitude of deeper emotions like when she shows remorse after Steven saves her and tearfully asks herself why she wants to hurt him and everyone else. Spinel is also mature enough to understand she will have some difficulty creating friendships after what Pink Diamond put her through, but is willing to start over with White, Blue, and Yellow.

Though being silly and goofy in her original form, Spinel has shown to be extremely intelligent and cunning in her altered state, originally defeating the Crystal Gems easily as well as understanding how the injector worked using it to kill Steven's organic form after using her rejuvenator to reset his gem, showing a great tactical knowledge.

6,000 Years Ago
Spinel was created for Pink Diamond thousands of years ago to act like her best friend, often playing games with her and entertaining her. However, when Pink was finally given her colony, Earth, she abandoned Spinel at the Garden that was built for them, telling her that they were going to play a new game which involved Spinel standing perfectly still. Spinel was eager to play the game and stood motionless for 6,000 years, thus throughout the whole series.

Steven Universe: The Movie
After 6,000 years of waiting, Spinel finally had gotten news on what has become of her Diamond. She learns that Pink Diamond no longer exists and had given up her physical form to give birth to her son, Steven. After learning this and also realizing the fact that her Diamond abandoned her, she changed her appearance and swore vengeance on Steven and Pink's "new friends".

Later on that same day, Spinel arrives on Earth on a massive injector with which she begins filling the ground with poison. Spinel begins to fight against Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl, her stretching ability and chaotic method of movement allowing her to easily defeat them with her Gem Rejuvenator. Furious, Steven manages to grab hold of her weapon and poofs Spinel with it as well.

After the battle, Steven brings the poofed gems (including Spinel) to the temple where he learns, after the Crystal Gems had reformed, that they have lost their memory and he himself has lost access to the majority of his abilities. Not too long after this revelation, Spinel reforms too and acts oddly friendly and playful towards Steven, calling him her new best friend.

Throughout the movie, Spinel follows Steven everywhere he went and "helps" him get his friends' memories back. While doing so, she also tries to play with him, but never gets the chance to, due to him being too focused on helping his friends. After helping Amethyst, Steven and the other remaining Crystal Gems learn that the only one who can stop Spinel's injector is Spinel herself, but in order to do that they need her to remember who she is and since Pearl is the only one who seems to know her, the group decides to help her next.

That evening, Spinel joins Steven and the other Crystal Gems at the Abandoned Warehouse, where they try to get Pearl to regain her memories by listening to a song written by Sadie Killer and the Suspects ("Disobedient"). When that didn't work, Steven figures out that the only way Pearl would be able to think for herself, as well as regain her memories, is if her owner "disappeared", just like Rose did. To do just that, Steven fuses with Greg (who Pearl thought was her owner) and forms a new fusion named, Steg. Steg then sings a song ("Independent Together") that helps Pearl remember who she is and later duets with him (as Opal).

Although the song had succeeded in helping Pearl, it causes Spinel to see that Steven cares more for his friends than her. Upset, she flees to Pink Diamond's Garden, where she tells Steven the story of her past as well as her abandonment ("Drift Away"), causing her to return to her former self. Steven, feeling bad for Spinel, befriends her and brings her back to the Gems and Connie ("Found"), who, after initially being wary, agree to let Spinel help Steven in deactivating the Injector.

Upon deactivating it, Spinel is once again hurt by Steven's reaction. She then claims that he only needed her for the Injector, and did not want to be her friend and that he would just get rid of her, the source of his problems. Thinking he will betray her as his mother did, she pushes Steven, making him drop the Rejuvenator. Freaking out in anger and betrayal, paranoid that Steven would send her back to her default, she resorts back to her old behavior and attacks Steven, and threatens Garnet. This, however, causes Garnet to regain her memories as well. After being beaten by the Crystal Gems, Spinel then retreats to the top of the Injector and is soon followed by Steven, who then tries to talk to her. This further infuriates her, causing them to fight, until it becomes apparent she has lost her motivation to destroy him and regrets her actions up until that point. Steven, now fully reunited with his powers, comforts her and claims she can start fresh with new people to be her friends. The Injector then explodes due to the battle, and Steven saves Spinel by entrapping her in his bubble alongside him. Steven then attempts to comfort her again, as Spinel decides she has created too much damage and must leave. The Diamonds then arrive, ready to confront Steven about where they will live and Steven introduces Spinel to them, thus giving her the new friends he promised. Spinel then says goodbye to Steven and leaves Earth alongside the Diamonds, happy to be loved again.

Abilities
She presumably has all the powers of a normal Gem.

Skillset

 * Scythe Proficiency: The non-summoned weapon that Spinel wields is the Gem Rejuvenator which has the appearance of a scythe. Spinel was adept enough at wielding it that she was easily able to defeat three of the Crystal Gems. In conjunction with the weapon, Spinel's ability to stretch works greatly in her favor as it allows her to greatly increase the range of the scythe allowing her to swipe at many different angles and increase the power behind it when she stretches far enough allowing the recoil to strengthen the attack made by the weapon.

Unique Abilities

 * Elasticity: Seemingly looking like an old-fashioned cartoon, Spinel's attack patterns and movements are akin to it as well. She is extremely elastic and malleable, able to stretch her limbs and torso to great lengths and inflate body parts to strengthen her attacks. She uses this to increase the range of her attacks, able to reach enemies from a distance. She can also coil her extended limbs to form a spring with an inflated fist at the end. Though, this could just be a specialized or subset skill of the normal Gem ability of Shapeshifting. She's even able to coil one of her fingers into making a type of horn that activates and deactivates her injector.
 * Levitation: When Steven sang "Change ", she is seen to be able to levitate in the air for a while.

Pink Diamond
Spinel was Pink Diamond's playmate and "best friend". Created solely to entertain Pink, Spinel considered herself to be Pink's best friend, and for a time, the two were inseparable. However, they gradually grew apart as Pink yearned to have a colony of her own. Oblivious to this, Spinel continued to attempt to entertain Pink, her attitude now seeming more immature in comparison. She also became clingy; upon Pink's allocation of Earth as her colony by the Diamonds, Spinel was intent on joining Pink on this new endeavor.

Very reluctant to allow Spinel to join her, Pink created a "new game" to get rid of her from her side, in which Spinel should wait for her return in the same spot, and never move. Spinel obliged and waited over 6,000 years for Pink's return. When Spinel finally realized that Pink had abandoned her after watching Steven's announcement on the Diamond Communicator, hurt and sorrow consumed Spinel, resulting in her taking on her current form and hunting down Steven to take revenge on Pink.

Steven Universe
Spinel sought out revenge on Steven due to him being the descendant of Pink Diamond, as stated by his broadcast, and she was jealous of the fact that he, or "Pink", now had new friends that were not herself. Hurt by Pink's abandonment, she vowed to destroy Steven's new friends and the planet that Pink had loved so much. Steven accidentally poofs her, perceiving her as a threat once she has poofed Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl.

However, upon her regeneration, the two become mutual acquaintances, with Spinel resuming her 'Best Friend' status with Steven, as she did with Pink. The two are inseparable, with the relationship heavily skewed; coming mostly from Spinel. Upon a small disagreement where Spinel sees Steven caring more for his friends than her, she flees to Pink Diamond's Garden, where she tells Steven the story of her past. Moved, and desperate to reform the Gem, Steven brings Spinel back to the Gems and Connie, who, after initially being wary, agree to let Steven help Spinel to deactivate the Injector.

Upon deactivating it, Spinel is once again hurt by Steven's reaction; she claims he only needed her for the Injector, and did not want to be her friend. Resorting back to her old behavior, Spinel attacks Steven, before retreating to the top of the Injector.

Steven ascends the injector to talk to Spinel, and they fight until it becomes apparent she has lost her motivation to destroy him and regrets her actions up until that point. Steven, now fully reunited with his powers, comforts her and claims she can start fresh with new people to be her friends. The Injector promptly explodes due to the battle, and Steven saves Spinel by entrapping her in his bubble alongside him. Steven then attempts to comfort her again, as Spinel decides she has created too much damage and must leave. The Diamonds then arrive, ready to confront Steven about where they will live, and Steven introduces Spinel to them, thus giving her the new friends he promised.

Pearl
The two were acquainted with one another as members of Pink Diamond's court, but presumably never interacted much. When Spinel and Pearl encountered each other for the first time in thousands of years, Pearl experienced shock over Spinel's return.

While the two never interact properly, it seems that Spinel holds a fair amount of resentment towards Pearl since Pink Diamond took Pearl with her to earth but left Spinel behind. This is evident when Spinel mentions it and is barely able to keep herself from screaming in anger.

Yellow Diamond
Yellow and Blue Diamond were both acquainted with her thousands of years ago, though it isn't known how much or in which way they previously interacted. In present-day Yellow seemed surprised about "Pink's little playmate" still being around, and was possibly unaware that Pink left Spinel abandoned within her garden.

Upon her first encounter with Spinel in millenia Yellow is shown to be amused by her jokes and antics. She along with her fellow Diamonds took such a liking to her that they were willing to let her stay in the Diamond Palace. Spinel agreeing seems to indicate that she is on friendly terms with the Diamonds or at the very least is willing to become friends with them.

Blue Diamond
Along with Yellow Diamond, she was acquainted with Spinel thousands of years ago, though the degree to which they interacted is unknown. Over the course of several millenia, Blue seems to have forgotten of Spinel's existence, with her possibly being unaware of the fact that Pink left Spinel abandoned in her garden.

In present day upon encountering Spinel she shows remorse after learning of her abandonment by Pink. Blue takes a liking to Spinel and her resemblance to Pink, along with her fellow Diamonds she was willing to offer Spinel to stay with them in the Diamond Palace. Spinel agreeing seems to indicate that she is on friendly terms with the Diamonds or at the very least is willing to become friends with them.

White Diamond
Spinel remarked that the Diamonds saw her before, though it is unknown if this also includes White. The only known past instance of Spinel encountering the other Diamonds is when Pink was being told about her receiving her own colony by Blue and Yellow with White shown to be absent. It is possible that White was unaware of Spinel's abandonment in Pink's garden.

Upon encountering Spinel both of them began to take a liking to each other with White even proposing the idea of taking Spinel to Homeworld with them and letting her stay in the Diamond Palace. Spinel agreeing seems to indicate that she is on friendly terms with the Diamonds or at the very least is willing to become friends with them.

Trivia

 * Her design, gloves, eye pupils (at least in her first form), and stretching abilities seem to be based on old-fashioned cartoon characters of the 1930s-era "rubber hose" animation style, with long hose-like limbs bending and stretching freely. Her opening song and fight with the Gems matches this, being similar to the Jazz or rag time songs seen in rubber hose cartoons.
 * Her stretching ability is somewhat similar to the stretchy powers of Jake from Adventure Time, which Rebecca Sugar was a storyboarder on.
 * Her abilities can also be a nod to the Pirate protagonist Monkey D. Luffy from the anime and manga, One Piece. Which Rebecca Sugar has shown before to be a huge fan of. She even has an ability that is similar to Luffy's 3rd Gear.
 * Her hair is similar to Mickey Mouse's ears; regardless of which direction she faces, it always stays along the outline of her head.
 * Her name was alluded to in some of the earliest promotional material where her gem was spinning.
 * The spinning gem in the promo is also most likely a reference to her gemstone, which was revealed to be rotated upside down.
 * Spinel is the only Gem besides Pink Diamond to have rotated her gem's position.
 * Spinel also seems to be inspired by or at least was meant to be a court jester of sorts, having been created strictly to entertain royalty.
 * Along with Lapis Lazuli, Bismuth, Carnelian, Holly Blue Agate, and Emerald, Spinel is the sole individual of her Gem type seen in detail.
 * Spinel is a gemstone that dispels negative energy by purifying it, and it is also known to increase creativity and preserve youthfulness. While the former could be analogous to her positive and goofy (former) personality, the latter might be an ironic jab towards her use of the Gem Rejuvenator.
 * It is unknown how Spinel changed her form and acquired her Rejuvenator and Injector in such a short span of time.
 * Spinel has a tendency to add old slang words into her speech, such as 'swell' or 'gee'. These words were often used during the 1920s-30s, the same time when rubberhose animation was popular.
 * Rebecca Sugar stated that what she wanted people to take away from the movie and Spinel's character arc was that it's alright to be a 'work in progress' and it's you who needs to want to change and get better.
 * Near the end of the movie, the marks resembling tears or mascara on her face appear to have shrunk, possibly a sign of her changing.
 * Her transformation back to her alter form is similar to a "magical girl" transformation.
 * Her design and personality are also reminiscent of the DC Character Harley Quinn, being themed on a court jester while also having an erratic violent personality.