What could Alone Together mean about fusions?

We’ve already taken a look at the most likely things we learned about gem fusion from Alone Together, so let’s get into more speculative territory.

What does this mean about Alexandrite?

When we first saw Alexandrite we wondered if the reason she was so unstable was because she was a three-Gem fusion. Now that doesn’t seem to be the case: Stevonnie showed that Steven and Connie both retained their individuality even while composing Stevonnie, and held conversations through Stevonnie’s voice just as the Crystal Gems did with Alexandrite’s.

Why were they so discordant as Alexandrite, though? Was it because they didn’t want to fuse and didn’t really have a goal to keep them on-task? Or is it because of a deeper dysfunction in the team?

It could potentially be much more interesting than that, though. In the early part of Alone Together, with the Crystal Gems trying to teach Steven how to fuse, we see Amethyst, Garnet, and Pearl doing a dance together. This seems to answer a question that was unresolved in Fusion Cuisine: the Crystal Gems likely did indeed fuse into Alexandrite all at once rather than having to chain fusions together first.

That leads to an interesting chain of logic, though: Alexandrite is the only Crystal Gem that doesn’t wear the five-point star somewhere on her; Amethyst, Garnet, Opal, Pearl, and Sugilite all have a five-point star somewhere on them, but Alexandrite’s symbol is noticeably different. We took this to mean that the Crystal Gems we know were a group before Rose Quartz came onto the scene.

However we heard all three of our Crystal Gems as separate voices coming from Alexandrite’s mouth: this means that the Gems retain their individuality in a fusion even if they are already fusions.

The trouble comes if you assume that Garnet is a fusion, and then have to contend with the timing of when she became a permanent fusion. We know that the blue Gem that partially composes her bubbled several gems for the Crystal Gems: they’re floating in the basement with all of the others with unmistakably blue bubbles. This means that unless Garnet willingly de-fused for an extended period of time after having been a fusion for quite a while, Alexandrite was formed back when the Crystal Gems we know were actually four: Amethyst, Pearl, Red, and Blue.

So from this we can assume that while the Gems that compose a fusion affect who is inside it, and therefore able to demand control and make a certain action, the fusion Gem created is the same either way. Alexandrite would be the same whether she was formed by Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl; Garnet and Opal; or if Garnet defused and Amethyst, Pearl, Red, and Blue fused together.

Stevonnie: the perfect Battle Couple

Considering how sparingly the show uses fusions we’re not likely to see Stevonnie again in a hurry. However, if Connie is going to continue to participate in extraordinary Gem missions like she did in Ocean Gem, being with Steven in Stevonnie form would probably be the best way.

Stevonnie is ideal because the form has all of the power of the rose quartz gem, while Connie would be able to work with Steven to best direct that power; both are skilled fighters for their age, and putting them both in such perfect communication would make Stevonnie impeccable.

It also solves the problem of protecting Connie on the battlefield. Even if she’s wielding Rose’s sword, Connie still has the problem of being a very soft target against very powerful enemies. Steven’s bubble can only be used so often, and we’ve seen it break easily; in her own form, Connie is tethered to Steven anyway, so it only makes sense to form Stevonnie.

More fuel for the Garnet Fusion theory

More minor circumstantial evidence has been added in support of Garnet as a fusion gem. In Alone Together she bragged of the ease with which she could fuse, was very positive about Stevonnie being a fusion, and seemed to display the most nuanced understanding of what being a fusion meant. The sheer glee she had when she saw that Steven had fused with Connie is also both interesting and hilarious.