The Gem Destabilizer is a weapon designed to instantly destabilize Gems. It is a product of the advanced Gem technology which has developed in the 5,000 years since the Crystal Gems severed all contact with the Gem Homeworld. There were many Gem Destabilizars created from the same design of the same item.
Overview
Jasper uses her Gem Destabilizer against Garnet in their heated fight, having it be stolen and snapped in half by Garnet, rendering it useless. Another one is found and attempted to be used by Peridot, only for Steven to deactivate it and protect the Crystal Gems.
Jasper wielding a Gem Destabilizer is briefly seen during Steven’s flashback.
Aquamarine intentionally used one on Topaz, only to have it stolen by Topaz herself. After being threatened, she drops the Gem Destabilizer, with it not being used at all.
During Garnet’s flashback to the Gem War, a silhouette of Pink Diamond is seen holding two Gem Destabilizers.
Appearance
The Gem Destabilizers resembles a goldish-brown arrowhead-tipped tuning fork with a yellow, oval-shaped bulb suspended between the tips. It gives off streams of static energy between the bulb and the hilt. They are no longer than forearms.
The blue Gem Destabilizers has a shape similar to their brownish-yellow counterpart though the shape leading up to the end is smoother. The blue Destabilizers has no electric charge but instead contains a blue orb at the end. It is unknown if the effects are any different compared to the yellow Destabilizers as it was never demonstrated.
Powers and Abilities
Gem Destabilizers disintegrate a Gem's body on contact with the operational end. Lines of yellow energy course through their body, dismembering them upon release, forcing the Gem consciousness to retreat into their gemstones. This process will disrupt even the most stable of pure Gem fusions. This method is also used in the containment fields of prison cells to prevent Gems from leaving their cell.
While archaic Gem weapons employ brutal force from which a Gem may require days or weeks to recover, a Gem Destabilizer will merely knock a Gem out of commission for a short period of time; perhaps for only a few hours. This is still sufficient to collect and imprison the inactive gemstone.
Gem Destabilizers, and the containment fields used in prison cells, have proven to be ineffective against the half-human, Steven Universe. This resulted in him being only slightly shocked, this is probably due to his body being organic and not a illusion as stated by Pearl and Garnet.
Gallery
Trivia
- They are wielded by Jasper and Peridot. As Peridot pulled one out of a compartment in the control room, they may be standard personal defense weapons for Homeworld Gems.
- It cannot damage a human, or any species other than Gems.
- This weapon (along with containment fields) can only damage full Gems, as exhibited when Steven grabs the tip of Peridot's destabilizer and walks out of the cells, as he is a hybrid.
- This weapon (along with containment fields) can only damage full Gems, as exhibited when Steven grabs the tip of Peridot's destabilizer and walks out of the cells, as he is a hybrid.
- The Gem Destabilizer seems to be based on a tuning fork and the principle of mechanical resonance. All crystalline compounds have a resonant frequency, which causes them to fracture when exposed to a certain wavelength of sound.
- The fact that it creates an electrical charge, shows that it might also be based on a close ranged taser, a weapon that uses an electric shock to subdue an adversary.
- The bridge in Peridot's Gem Warship has yellow containment fields which appear to be based on the same technology as Gem Destabilizers.