Connie Maheswaran

"Connie Maheswaran" is a character in Steven Universe. She is Steven's first and close friend. She made her debut in the episode "Bubble Buddies".

Appearance
Connie is a young girl with brown skin and waist-length dark brown puffy hair. She has a prominent nose, thick eyebrows and wears a pair of red lens-less glasses (after the events of "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 and white clothing. In the first intro, she is seen wearing a white and light green dress with her peach colored boots but with a sunhat and no socks. Her glasses also have the lenses still in. Her casual wear includes blue overalls with a green-striped white shirt; a green shirt and gray khaki shorts; a white shirt which has a golden sun on the chest area, with blue shorts and dark pink flats; a pink shirt with blue shorts, and her boots; a sleeveless sky-blue dress with a pale violet lace around her waist, and powder blue flats.

Personality
Connie has a bookworm-ish personality, generally being withdrawn and introverted, as well as curious and intelligent. Due to her parent's lifestyle, Connie rarely stays in one place for long and has been unable to form lasting friendships (until she met Steven), often 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-fat). 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 robots in front of her, she reacts passively 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".

"Sworn to the Sword" shows a more confident and aggressive side to her personality as she learns how to use a sword. It also highlights her strong feelings for Steven in her (misguided) devotion to him in becoming a knight.

Abilities

 * Fusion: First shown in "Alone Together", Connie is able to fuse with Steven to create Stevonnie. This is most likely because Steven is half-human.
 * Swordsmanship: As of Sworn to the Sword, Connie has become very skilled in the art of sword-fighting. 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.

Steven
Steven first saw Connie about a year prior to 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". 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.

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. 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 hanging out with Steven due to the danger she gets put in.

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 doesn't understand human relationships when she is looking for Steven.

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".

Season 1

 * "Bubble Buddies" (debut)
 * "Lion 2: The Movie"
 * "An Indirect Kiss"
 * "Mirror Gem"
 * "Ocean Gem"
 * "Fusion Cuisine"
 * "Alone Together"
 * "Winter Forecast"
 * "Marble Madness"
 * "Open Book"
 * "The Return" (mentioned)
 * "Jail Break" (voice only)

Season 2

 * "Full Disclosure"
 * "Love Letters"
 * "Sworn to the Sword"
 * "We Need to Talk"
 * "Chille Tid" (mentioned)
 * "Cry for Help" (mentioned)
 * "Nightmare Hospital"

Trivia

 * Connie and her family seem to be of South Indian descent,likely Tamil or Malayali.
 * Connie’s surname, Maheswaran, means “Greatest God” in Hindi and is also traditionally a Tamil surname.
 * Connie appears in the title sequence as the "Mr. Universe" van drives by. She holds the book A Wrinkle in Time
 * In the second intro, Connie is shown wielding Rose's Sword and an unknown, large book with a bookmark inside.
 * She is able to write backwards. 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.
 * 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. However, in order not to aggravate her parents and optometrist, she pops out the lenses of her glasses and puts the frames back on.
 * It is revealed in "Mirror Gem" that Connie plays violin.
 * In "Fusion Cuisine", it is revealed that Connie's last name is Maheswaran.
 * In "Alone Together" and "We Need to Talk ", she fused with Steven to create Stevonnie.
 * She is also revealed to be embarrassed to dance in public.
 * She is the only known human who has successfully fused with a gem.
 * She lives outside of Beach City, as shown in "Winter Forecast", when Mr. Maheswaran said: "I'm almost at Beach City, so start putting on your shoes."
 * In "Winter Forecast", Connie says "itadakimasu", a Japanese word said before eating. This implies that Connie knows a little bit of Japanese or is a fan of Japanese culture.
 * Steven is Connie's first and only friend as mentioned in "Bubble Buddies" when she said she was going to disappear without making a single friend.
 * She also said a similar phrase in "Full Disclosure", where after Steven texted her he didn't want to be friends anymore, she said that she'll just go back to having no friends.
 * Connie may be a reference to the King of the Hill character of the same name.
 * Connie from King of the Hill and Connie from Steven Universe coincidentally both play the violin.
 * Connie is the character to have worn the most outfits in the show, second only to Steven, as she seems to wear something different every episode.
 * Contrasting the typical cartoon character that wears the same outfit every episode.
 * In "Sworn to the Sword", Connie's outfit and fighting style were inspired by Kalaripayattu.
 * A martial art originating as a style in Kerala, it is one of the oldest martial arts practiced in India. Northern Kalaripayattu is based on elegant and flexible movements, evasions, jumps and weapons training. Normally, Kalaripayattu can be started at the age of seven, when the body is not stiff and less vulnerable to damage. But it can be practiced at any age under the supervision of a well-experienced master, such as Pearl.
 * She wields a sword resembling the Khanda, a sword typically used in Kalaripayattu.
 * Her hairstyle is a braid typically worn by female Kalaripayattu practitioners.
 * Connie has sung two duets, "The Jam Song" with Steven and "Do It For Her" with Pearl, both in "Sworn to the Sword".
 * Connie is the first human shown to enter Rose's Room.
 * 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, and when she fights Pearl with Steven, she is using her left hand.
 * The majority of her outfits have either white, blue, light blue, mint, and scarlet shoes or boots.

Connie