>>96647709Here's a thing, mr "people pretend"
Personally, I couldn't give less of a fuck about this type of character model inconsistencies, nor visual aesthetics at all, as long as they convey the story properly. I never cared about the aesthetic value of visuals in any cartoon, movie, game or comic, as long as it's not intentionally made to look gross.
>But anon, muh visual mediumYes, cartoons are a visual medium. That means that they have the benefit of using more than one channel of information for storytelling. And you know what? Steven Universe utilizes it to great extent.
Every other episode contains visual cues, continuity references and foreshadowing. Steven didn't need to verbally say "Look, there is a weird shiny bismuth-like gem floating here inside lion, I shall ignore it and move along now" to spark dozens of fan-theories. He didn't need to point out "Oh, pearl, you have a pink diamond symbol on your space suit!" to cause tumbrites to grab each other's throats.
Steven Universe constantly utilizes the fact that it's a visual medium, unlike 90% of other /co/ cartoons where you could shut off your monitor and just listen to the dialogue and the experience wouldn't be much diminished.
The only downside of the inconsistent character proportions (and I say "proportions" not "models" because as far as clothing, hair and facial features go, they are pretty consistent) is that we can't ever really use character's heights as a plotpoint. I wish we could see Steven actually gradually start growing up after what's been established in the birthday episode.
