theoceanknight:

radioactivesupersonic:

agenderlapis:

Every so often, someone in the Lapis tag will make a post saying something like this: “The ‘did you even wonder who I used to be?’ line doesn’t necessarily mean she’s royalty or otherwise directly related to Blue Diamond, she could have just been angrily reminding the Crystal Gems that she wasn’t just an object.”

And that’s a valid point, it isn’t necessarily an assertion of her power - but as pictured above, she says this as she’s effortlessly raising a giant watery hand.

The idea that Lapis is related to Blue Diamond - if not actually Blue Diamond or a fusion component - does not hinge entirely on this one line. Her hydrokinesis shocks everyone, Crystal Gems included, which implies that this is not an ability or extent of ability any given gem would have.
She also follows up the aforementioned line with “I’m Lapis Lazuli and you can’t keep me trapped here anymore.” There’s no reason to assume that this isn’t a display of haughtiness, to some extent, when she has no hesitation asserting her power when she deems it fit. Would someone who isn’t proud of her own abilities turn someone’s offer to fuse into a living hell?

TL;DR, even if you don’t agree with the idea of Lapis being an important figure (or at least formerly), please stop assuming that it hinges entirely on one line of dialogue.

Jumping in here a bit- the context of that line is conspicuous to me. Lapis can attack much quicker than that- we see this in the ocean tower battle, where Lapis’s attacks are the Steven clone, and when she attacks Malachite.

But she chooses to make her first attack absolutely massive, slow-moving, and lets it loom over the Crystal Gems before she brings it down.

Lapis is not just saying “you shouldn’t treat me as an object, because I am a person”. Because she utters it at the same time as she make a massive, obvious threat that she did not need to, one that she acts on just a moment later. When she asserts her name? She’s tossed Amethyst and Pearl, and pinned Garnet down and held her there.

Someone whose drive is to be recognized as worthy of the same respect others give themselves and each other- asking for basic individual rights and acknowledgements- does not express this while forcing everyone around her to their knees.

Lapis is not asserting individuality in the face of the Crystal Gems having taken that away from her, she’s asserting her individuality and power as a way of suggesting “I am big and bad and scary; I am Lapis Lazuli and there is literally nothing you can do to stop me.”

Which… sounds a little more proud to me than just “I am Lapis Lazuli and I’m alive”

And, y’know, affectionate note that while maintaining that massive hand, she literally parted the sea with a small flick of her hand like it was absolutely no consequence for her. So I would definitely err on the side of “Lapis is not a normal Gem” but people probably already knew that about me  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

also to add:

that entire scene, particularly the dialogue accompanying it?

yeah…i have an really hard time believing that, if we’re to take the idea that Lapis was simply an aristocratic gem, with no real authority as an member of Blue Diamond’s court and nothing more, she would have the specific attitude she displays in the show. specifically, her attitude that she not only does she have the ultimate judgement (telling Steven he shouldn’t trust his guardians, the people he grew up with, even if they weren’t directly responsible for raising him, even though she doesn’t know of his personal history with the gems and based on the fact she believed the Crystal Gems were not good people, along what i’ll describe down below), but she’s willing to drop someone like an hot potato if they don’t follow her without question or at least without hesitation (though, if you’re nice to her, she still will have loyalty to you…she just has an very loose and survival focused loyalty and expects total cooperation on your part), and that she knows what’s best for everyone, even though she has typically endangered everyone around her and herself so far in the show doing so, and is willing to get violent over relatively minor offenses, or offenses that are somewhat understandable but she goes really damn extreme in the payback.

Steven comes to the water tower with the Crystal Gems, and comes to discuss with her, not fight her? Immediately engage him and the Crystal Gems in the fight. Steven and Connie attack her Steven clone with rocks and an water gun? Immediately has the clone not only turn it’s hands into large bubbles and puts it around their heads, but also suspends them off the ground while doing so, and only stopped when Greg rammed into it with his van (and, remember, Connie was losing consciousness just before - there was an chance Lapis could’ve drowned her if Greg wasn’t quick enough on his feet). Jasper doesn’t necessarily respect her desire not to be touched without her permission, along with putting her in an cell she didn’t believe she deserved to escape from when Steven offered the chance, and then attempts to manipulate her using her hatred of the CG to take them out? instead of dragging Jasper into the ocean with the totally there ocean she can just form an hand out of and leave her there for however long, she manipulates her into fusing, binds the fusion, forces Jasper into it by sheer will even though the latter tried to defuse when she realized what was going on, and then holds the both of them down in the ocean, and was very unwilling to let go of her, and, whether or not she is aware of the cluster, is essentially pulling an potential murder-suicide attempt because…why not?

that isn’t an attitude an simple aristocrat who had no form of authority beyond what she was granted in the caste system and an member of an diamond’s court would develop. Lapis is prideful, certainly, but she isn’t an Small Name, Big Ego - from what we’ve seen so far of her, she is definitely someone who, if she isn’t an component of Blue Diamond, at least was definitely given an high position and likely was closely associated with her, and used to not only having an direct command of authority, but to have her subordinates follow her without question, no matter how vicious or controlling she gets. her grand display of power, both in the Mirror Gem/Ocean Gem two-parter with an cracked gem for the majority of it, and her ability to still keep Jasper from defusing Malachite for who knows how long since Jailbreak, is definitely not normal, and definitely wouldn’t give her an valuable position with direct command over gems or having gems listen to her without issue or question before the war and her imprisonment in the mirror.

seriously, those (in)famous lines (”did you even wonder who I used to be!?” “I am Lapis Lazuli, and you can’t keep me trapped here anymore!”) - both the way she says them and what she does when she says them, among many things about her, scream “I am powerful, I am above you, and you have no right to control me or not do as I say when I know far better than you and have the authority and power to make you understand that and make you pay for underestimating me.”