Spinel

"When you change, you change for the better; when I change, I change for the worse!"

Spinel is the main antagonist of Steven Universe: The Movie. She was created thousands of years ago to comfort the lonely Pink Diamond. The two would play every day in Pink's Garden until she was finally given her own colony. At this point, Pink outgrew Spinel and abandoned her under the guise of playing a game by having Spinel stand alone for thousands of years; Pink never returned. After discovering this through Steven Universe's message to the universe, she went to Earth with full intent to destroy all organic life forms, as a way of getting revenge. After making amends with Steven and the Crystal Gems, the Diamonds take her back to live with them.

Current
Spinel has a pink complexion, magenta eyes, a small pointy nose, and magenta hair that is styled into a pair of spiky 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 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. Spinel's previous color palette is also brighter than her current one which uses darker tones. Overall, her appearance was similar to that of a 1920s rubber-hose cartoon character.

Her gemstone used to be right side up, resembling 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 spontaneous 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 irrationality, 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. Fearful 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 slowly 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. Unfortunately, over time, Pink began to see Spinel as annoying and slowly outgrew her, becoming visibly less and less enthusiastic about playing with her. When Pink was finally given her colony Earth she abandoned Spinel at the Garden built for them, telling her 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 while waiting for Pink's return and thus throughout the whole series.

Steven Universe: The Movie
After 6,000 years of waiting Spinel finally had gotten news on what became of her Diamond. She learns that Pink Diamond technically no longer exists and had given up her physical form to give birth to her half-human 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 "other friends" (the Crystal Gems).

Later, on the day of Steven's final homeworld broadcast before returning to Earth, Spinel arrives in Beach City on a massive customized Injector with which she begins filling the planet 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 reformed that they lost their memories and he lost access to the majority of his abilities. Not too long after this revelation Spinel reforms as well and acts oddly friendly and playful towards Steven, calling him her 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 called "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 Quartz did. To do that Steven fuses with his father Greg Universe (who Pearl thought was her owner) and forms a new fusion named Steg. Steg then sings a song named "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 the others than her. Upset, she flees to Pink Diamond's Garden, where she tells Steven the story of her past as well as her abandonment through "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, taking Garnet as a hostage to goad him into fighting back. 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 once more tries to reason with 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.

Steven Universe Future
Spinel is confirmed to return in Steven Universe Future. In the opening to Steven Universe Future, Spinel is seen on Yellow Diamond's shoulder.

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

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. She even displayed the ability to become as flat as the ground and slither across it, in an almost semi-liquid like state. She's even able to coil one of her fingers into making a type of horn that activates and deactivates her injector. There appears to be no limit as to how far she can stretch.
 * Spinel also possesses physiology similar to rubber or putty. This allows her to jump great distances and bounce off surfaces; this is exploited when Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl stretch and then shoot her body like a slingshot.
 * Levitation: When Steven sang "Change ", she is seen to be able to levitate in the air for a while.
 * Twister Dash: She has the ability, when dashing at Steven, to dash in the style of a twister due to her elasticity and physiology similar to rubber or putty.

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 with one strike. 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.

Additional Tools

 * Rejuvenator: She obtained this somehow and used it against the Crystal Gems until it got destroyed by Steven.

Pink Diamond
"♫ And then she smiled, that's what I'm after, The smile in her eyes, the sound of her laughter. Happy to listen, happy to play, Happily watching her drift away ♫" 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.

While singing to Steven, Spinel expresses her belief that Pink does not care about her, though it is unknown whether this is indeed true. In spite of her newfound hatred towards Pink, Spinel fondly reminisces over the fun times the two of them had together, and happily tells the Diamonds they remind her so much of Pink.

Steven Universe
"What am I doing? Why do I wanna hurt you so bad? I'm supposed to be a friend! ...I just wanna be a friend..." 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 redeem 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. Reverting to her old behavior, Spinel attacks Steven and briefly holds Garnet hostage, 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
"And Pink Diamond's Pearl! Well! She took you with her. Isn't that just...swell?!" 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, Blue and White Diamond
The other Diamonds were acquainted with her thousands of years ago, as Spinel remarked that they saw her before; it isn't known how much or in which way they previously interacted, however. The only known past instance of Spinel encountering the other Diamonds is when Pink was being told about her receiving her colony by Blue and Yellow, with White being absent. All three were unaware that Pink left Spinel abandoned within her garden, nor did they seem to remember her at all in the first place. Upon their first encounter with Spinel in millennia, the once oblivious Diamonds seem to remember Spinel immediately, Yellow even calling her "Pink's little playmate"; She is shown to be amused by Spinel's jokes and antics. As for Blue Diamond, she calls Spinel one of "Pink's lost treasures" and shows sympathy after learning of her abandonment by Pink, but takes a liking to Spinel primarily due to her resemblance to the latter. White proposes the idea of taking Spinel to Homeworld with them and letting her stay in the Diamond Palace, to which Spinel agrees, expressing gratitude for being able to try her hand at making friends again.

Trivia

 * Rebecca Sugar stated that Pink Diamond abandoned Spinel because she found her grating and overwhelming and "Pink...wanted to feel like she was moving forward. This Gem was given to her to placate her in a certain way, and she was ready to move on. She wasn’t really thinking about how that would affect other people because she tends to not think about that. That’s a bit of a recurring theme for her. I think there’s a quality to Spinel that’s also about our young audience having grown up, and all the kids that have grown out of the show and left it behind, and how silly it can feel to be here working so hard to make this cartoon when there are people who will just leave. Pink, she grew out of her. It doesn’t excuse what she did. It absolutely doesn’t because it was very cruel, but she can be very cruel." She also 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.
 * Spinel's existence and backstory are tied to an event in Sugar's childhood: she left a cherished stuffed rabbit in her garden and when she discovered it half a year later it had changed independently. This was also the source of inspiration for the song "Everything Stays" that Sugar composed and performed for Adventure Time in the "Stakes" miniseries.
 * Spinel was designed to look like an "out-of-date cartoon that never evolved" and her movements were deliberate references to Grim Natwick's Betty Boop along with Ub Iwerks's productions. Her design, gloves, first form's eye pupils and stretching abilities were based on old-fashioned cartoon characters of the early 1900s-era rubber hose animation style with hose-like limbs bending and stretching freely with no articulation. Her opening song matched this being similar to jazz or ragtime songs in these cartoons. She tended to add old slang words into her speech such as "swell" or "gee" which were often used during the time rubber hose animation was still popular. She also spoke with a slight New York accent referencing the speaking style of such classic cartoon characters.
 * Her hair was similar to Mickey Mouse's ears; regardless of which direction she faced it always stayed along the outline of her head. While her original form resembled Mickey her new form resembled Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a character created by Iwerks and Walt Disney who was the oft-forgotten predecessor of Mickey. Oswald was less popular but returned to prominence in Epic Mickey.
 * Spinel also seemed to be inspired by or at least meant to be a court jester of sorts, having been created strictly to entertain royalty.
 * Her stretching ability was similar to Jake the Dog from Adventure Time which Sugar storyboarded before leaving. They could also be a nod to Monkey D. Luffy and Bellamy from One Piece which Sugar was a huge fan of and used as inspiration for her show; Spinel even displayed attacks similar to Luffy and Bellamy's. Her design and personality were also reminiscent of Harley Quinn from DC Comics as they both had similar appearances modeled after jesters or clowns and erratically violent but disturbingly playful personalities.
 * Her transformation back to her altered form was similar to "magical girl" transformations such as those seen in Sailor Moon. Additionally, the heart-shaped buns of her hair in her original form seemed reminiscent of Chibi Chibi from the aforementioned show.
 * Her name was alluded to in some of the earliest promotional materials where her gemstone was spinning. The spinning gemstone in the promo was also most likely a reference to her gemstone which was revealed to be rotated upside down.
 * Spinel is the only Gem besides her Diamond to have rotated her gemstone's position.
 * Along with Bismuth, Carnelian, Holly Blue Agate, Emerald, and Snowflake Obsidian, Spinel is the sole individual of her Gem type to be seen in full detail.
 * Spinel's associated instrument is distorted Mellotron strings.
 * In real life, spinels are believed to dispel negative energies through purification in addition to increasing creativity and preserving youthfulness. While the former aspect could've been analogous to her old personality the latter might've been an ironic jab towards her use of the Rejuvenator.
 * Several notable spinels have been used as crown jewels giving them significant associations and close connections with royalty similar to the character's connection to Pink Diamond.
 * In Spinel's original/reset form her three eyelashes are above her eyes. In her current form these lines are now thicker and below her eyes. In addition to referencing her rotated gemstone, they also resemble running mascara from crying.
 * She was one of the few hostile Gems aside from Lapis, Peridot, Bismuth, "Squaridot" and Hessonite to fully, if not immediately recognize Steven as his own person opposed to an extension of Rose Quartz and/or Pink Diamond and understand he was neither Pink nor Rose from the get-go as even the other Crystal and Homeworld Gems themselves initially had difficulty making the distinctions.
 * In her original design Spinel's head was going to be a giant heart.

Gemstone
Spinel