Cluster Gems

This article is about Cluster Gems. You may be looking for The Cluster.

“	There is no helping them, they're too broken. The beings who used to be in those shards are so shattered, they don't know who they are or what's happening around them. They just seek out other Gems, looking for the missing pieces of themselves, trying to make themselves whole.	”
—Peridot, "Gem Drill"

Cluster Gem Prototypes
Nickname(s)	Fusion Experiments (Peridot) Gem Mutants (Steven) Gem Experiments (Dr. Maheswaran) Prototypes (Peridot) Artificial Fusions (Peridot) Clusterlings (Peridot) Creepy Gem Fusion Experiments (Steven) Fusion Monsters (Steven)
Characteristics
Species	Gem
Traits
Gemstone	Mixed
Professional Status
Affiliation(s)	Crystal Gems (formerly)
Personal Status
Status	Mostly Active
Media
First Appearance	"Keeping It Together"
Music Theme	Gem Shards
Voice Actor	Dee Bradley Baker (Patient #1 from "Nightmare Hospital") Zach Callison (Patient #2 from "Nightmare Hospital")

Cluster Gems, also known as Gem Mutants and Artificial Fusions, are forced fusions of former Gems. They were created by Homeworld Gems in the Prime Kindergarten to serve as prototypes for the real Cluster. When Cluster Gems sense other Gems, they become aggressive in an attempt to recover their gemstones' missing shards and become "whole" again. They first began emerging in "Keeping It Together".

Appearance

In general, Clusters take the form of various body parts and limbs joined to other appendages. The limbs are of mismatched colors, such as dark and light blue, rust, violet, olive green, mint gray, pale green and dull yellow, indicating that they originally belonged to different Gems. Clusters vary widely in appearance, ranging from disembodied sets of conjoined limbs to humanoid creatures of varying symmetry. More extreme variants take the forms of multi-limbed creatures and gruesome, amorphous masses of limbs.

Clusters

A total of 25 Cluster Gems have been seen thus far.

Image	Description	Appearance(s)
	A cluster that consists of a purple and blue arm fused together.	"Keeping It Together"
	Referred to as "Mini Cluster Gem" in the model sheets, this cluster consists of a blue hand and red foot fused together.
	Referred to as "Hand Hand" in the model sheets, this cluster consists of a purple and yellow hand fused together.
	Referred to as "Hand Cluster" and "Hand Cluster Gem" in the model sheets, this giant variant of a cluster appears to be comprised entirely of limbs conjoined together in a single hand-and-forearm-shaped body, wrapped in what looks like a dark gray cloth. At its core, the fusion is comprised of four different shattered Gem Shards that are physically fused together. It possesses four large eyes. Its irises and visible Gem Shards are green, yellow, blue and purple. According to Garnet, the four Gems were the shattered fragments of shattered Crystal Gems.
	A cluster that consists of a green and red foot fused together.
	Referred to as "Arm Leg" in the model sheets, this cluster consists of a yellow leg and a green arm fused together.
	A cluster that consists of a gray arm with a red and blue hand fused together.
	Referred to as "Patient 1" in the Nightmare Hospital episode credits, and as the "Bed Mutant" in its model sheet. This cluster has six arms and two legs. It takes a more human form. However, two arms take the place of where a head would be and has two arms sticking out of its right side. Its right leg also ends with a mismatched lower leg that is much smaller than the part above. The limbs are in various colors such as orange, teal, gray, blue, and a dull purple. The location of its gem is unknown, assuming it is visible.	"Nightmare Hospital"
	Referred to as "Patient 2" in the "Nightmare Hospital" episode credits, and as the "Hallway Mutant" in its model sheet. This cluster has three arms and two legs. It has two large tumors where its face would be. Its left arm acts as a leg and is very long, huge and muscular. Attached to it is two parallel hands. It has two right arms. One of its legs is very small, not allowing it to act as a real leg. It comes in many mismatched colors, including yellow, spring green and dull purple. The cluster with the same appearance made a cameo in "Earthlings", which was not explained since the "Hallway Mutant" was bubbled, and most Cluster Gems are unique.
	Referred to as "Mouth Leg Mutant" in the model sheet, a cluster that has 6 feet but uses 4 of them as arms. Two of the feet are dark purple, and the rest of its body is dull red. On the bottom, it has a vertical mouth that opens to reveal a single eye. It also has a dull yellow arm as a tail.	"When It Rains"
	Another cluster with a gray-blue hand, wrist, and a dull red foot, but it appears to be bigger.
	Referred to as "Mouth Torso Mutant" on the model sheet. A dull blue cluster with two legs, a round torso body, and purple arms. It has a large mouth on its torso.
	A cluster with a red leg, a yellow leg, a red round body, and a large pink arm.
	Referred to as "Hand Body Mutant" in the model sheet. A humanoid cluster with a red head with a single blue eye and a yellow hand like body with three folded "finger arms" at the back.
	A giant white-beige hand. The bottom is not seen, but it can walk.
	Referred to as "Arm Eye Mutant" in the model sheet. A big cluster with a violet round body, a pair of blue feet, a blue hand on top and a reddish eye in the center.
	A big hand cluster that is half red and half violet.
	A small cluster with a blue arm and orange leg.
	A big green and light blue cluster with three green fingers, four light blue fingers, and a light blue foot.
	Referred to as "Foot Arm Mutant" in the model sheet, a cluster with a light green head that has one eye and mouth on its face, a light blue body and left hand, a giant green foot as its right arm, and purple lower body.
	Another Hand-Foot combination.	"Gem Drill"
	A slightly humanoid cluster with three tumorous growths surrounding its gem, thus resembling a poppy, which is a kind of flower.
	Two arms stuck together.
	Two legs stuck together.
	The cluster Jasper was holding captive in Earthlings, it broke out and had not been seen since. It is similar to one of the cluster Gems seen in "Nightmare Hospital"	"Earthlings"

History

Pre-series

When the Earth was no longer fit to be a Gem colony, Homeworld Gems decided to create the Cluster. Because the Cluster project was a hefty task, Homeworld Gems decided to create prototypes. They took the shattered remains of Crystal Gems from the Rebellion and forced their Gem Shards to fuse together through an unknown process. It has resulted in a new gemstone that holds the consciousness of the Gems fused with it. When this artificial Gem projects its physical form, they appear to be distorted monsters as they are composed of shards of former Gems, only pieces. These prototypes were left in the Prime Kindergarten Control Room, where they stayed dormant for thousands of years.

"Marble Madness"

The containers in which the Clusters are kept descends from the control room ceiling.

The Cluster Gems make a semi-hidden cameo when Peridot is accessing the Facet Five control room.

"Keeping It Together"

Other fused Gem Shards falling from mysterious columns.

Steven and Garnet encounter Cluster Gems in the Kindergarten, the Hand Cluster, and six smaller Cluster Gems. The appearance of the Clusters is so horrifying to Garnet that she becomes unstable to the point where she almost un-fuses. Ruby, through Garnet, states she believes the Cluster Gems were created as punishment by Homeworld for The Rebellion. The Cluster Gems are eventually "poofed" by Garnet and currently reside within one of her bubbles in the Burning Room.

"Nightmare Hospital"

Two Clusters are sighted across roads and taken to Dr. Maheswaran's workplace, mistaken as victims of car accidents and treated by doctors at the Hospital. Later, they break into the halls and try to attack Steven, Connie and Dr. Maheswaran, only to be poofed by Connie with Rose's Sword and then bubbled by Steven.

"When It Rains"

Peridot and Steven are assaulted by several of them when attempting to escape the Kindergarten before Steven forms a bubble and the Crystal Gems rescue them. This is the second time where the Cluster Gems are shown to have facial features (i.e., mouth, eyes); the first time being "Keeping it Together".

"Gem Drill"

Steven and Peridot are attacked by some prototypes while drilling to the earth's core to stop the Cluster, which is blasted back into the magma.

"Earthlings"

A Cluster Gem that looks similar to the bulky one from "Nightmare Hospital", was captured by Jasper and caged in the Beta Kindergarten, but managed to escape with a few Corrupted Gems during Jasper's battle against Smoky Quartz.

Episode Appearances

Season 2
1. "Full Disclosure":	Absent	14. "Historical Friction":	Absent
2. "Joy Ride":	Absent	15. "Friend Ship":	Absent
3. "Say Uncle":	Absent	16. "Nightmare Hospital":	Appears
4. "Love Letters":	Absent	17. "Sadie's Song":	Absent
5. "Reformed":	Absent	18. "Catch and Release":	Absent
6. "Sworn to the Sword":	Absent	19. "When It Rains":	Appears
7. "Rising Tides, Crashing Skies":	Absent	20. "Back to the Barn":	Absent
8. "Keeping It Together":	Debut	21. "Too Far":	Absent
9. "We Need to Talk":	Absent	22. "The Answer":	Absent
10. "Chille Tid":	Absent	23. "Steven's Birthday":	Absent
11. "Cry for Help":	Absent	24. "It Could've Been Great":	Absent
12. "Keystone Motel":	Absent	25. "Message Received":	Absent
13. "Onion Friend":	Absent	26. "Log Date 7 15 2":	Absent

Season 3
1. "Super Watermelon Island":	Absent	13. "Kiki's Pizza Delivery Service":	Absent
2. "Gem Drill":	Appears	14. "Monster Reunion":	Absent
3. "Same Old World":	Absent	15. "Alone at Sea":	Absent
4. "Barn Mates":	Absent	16. "Greg the Babysitter":	Absent
5. "Hit the Diamond":	Absent	17. "Gem Hunt":	Mentioned
6. "Steven Floats":	Absent	18. "Crack the Whip":	Absent
7. "Drop Beat Dad":	Absent	19. "Steven vs. Amethyst":	Absent
8. "Mr. Greg":	Absent	20/21. "Bismuth":	Absent
9. "Too Short to Ride":	Absent	22. "Beta":	Absent
10. "The New Lars":	Absent	23. "Earthlings":	Cameo
11. "Beach City Drift":	Absent	24. "Back to the Moon":	Absent
12. "Restaurant Wars":	Absent	25. "Bubbled":	Absent

Season 4
1. "Kindergarten Kid":	Absent	14. "The Zoo":	Absent
2. "Know Your Fusion":	Absent	15. "That Will Be All":	Absent
3. "Buddy's Book":	Absent	16. "The New Crystal Gems":	Absent
4. "Mindful Education":	Absent	17. "Storm in the Room":	Absent
5. "Future Boy Zoltron":	Absent	18. "Rocknaldo":	Absent
6. "Last One Out of Beach City":	Absent	19. "Tiger Philanthropist":	Absent
7. "Onion Gang":	Absent	20. "Room for Ruby":	Absent
8/9. "Gem Harvest":	Absent	21. "Lion 4: Alternate Ending":	Absent
10. "Three Gems and a Baby":	Absent	22. "Doug Out":	Mentioned
11. "Steven's Dream":	Absent	23. "The Good Lars":	Absent
12. "Adventures in Light Distortion":	Absent	24. "Are You My Dad?":	Absent
13. "Gem Heist":	Absent	25. "I Am My Mom":	Absent

Trivia

Hand Cluster members attempting to escape the fusion.

Hand Cluster's four eyes.

The frame where the Hand Cluster gem changes to the Centipeetle Mother's gem; confirmed by Matt Burnett to be an animation error.

• Coincidentally or not, if one excludes Hand Cluster's thumb (which is covered by a boot), it has a glove covering every finger but the middle, while Garnet has a glove covering her middle finger.
• The blue "leg" off to the left of the Hand Cluster appears to have the same boots as Amethyst and Ruby.
• There appears to be no red Gem Shard in the Hand Cluster, despite the red leg and arm present in it. This may be due to the fact that it is technically a cross-gem fusion, which often have colours that differ from those of its component gems.
• The silhouettes of the Hand Cluster members have traits similar to other Gems on the show. For example, their hairstyles are similar in appearance to that of Pearl's haircut from the Pilot.
• When the Hand Cluster's gem was sent to the Burning Room, its gem reshaped itself to appear like the Centipeetle Mother's gem.
  • This was later confirmed to be an animation error by Matt Burnett via his Twitter.
• Each of the Hand Cluster's eyes has a defined plica semilunaris on either side of it, not seen elsewhere on eyes in the show.
• In "Nightmare Hospital", it is mentioned that they have no vitals or heartbeat, a fact that may also pertain to regular Gems as well, given their fluid physiology.
• In the episode "When it Rains" two Cluster Gems with actual heads, mouth and eyes are among the group attacking Steven and Peridot.
  • This episode introduced the most Cluster gems to date, with 11, while "Earthlings" introduced only one.

Cultural References

• Clusters share many similarities to Frankenstein's Monster from the famous film adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel of the same name. Cluster Gems, however, are more classified as half-aliens, and half-flesh golems. Concerning physiology, Flesh Golems are grotesque patchworks that are made out of flesh, which fits the Cluster Gems rather closely.
  • Both are made out of body parts of different deceased individuals, acquired via grave robbing.
  • They are unnatural creations which were created through scientific means.
  • Both are presented as tragic, yet horrifying figures.
• The malformed appearances and multi-limbed forms of the Cluster Gems give them a striking resemblance to the Necromorphs from the Dead Space series. Their intent to 'make themselves whole' also mirrors a tag-line from the game.
  • Their grotesque amalgamations of body parts also bear a resemblance to John Carpenter's The Thing, as well as its 2011 prequel, which does show arm-based creatures.
• The two-headed Cluster Gem resembles the Charger in the Left for Dead video game series regarding anatomical design.
• The Hand Cluster's cloth makes it resemble a Mummy.
• The rock cylinders used to hold the immature Cluster Gems resemble rock core samples.
• The style of the Hand Cluster's eyes resembles the eyes of Matarael and Sachiel from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
• They are similar to the amalgamates in Undertale.

Gemology

• A cluster of gemstones is a result of gems that fuse together due to extensive pressure from being underground. In most cases clusters are usually fusions of the same gemstone; however, in sporadic cases, it is possible for clusters to form from different gemstones.

Gemstones

Image	Description
	The Hand Cluster's gemstone is a mix of four different gems joined into a single gemstone. It's located on the center of its "palm".
	A smaller Cluster taking the form of a hand and a foot has two Gem Shards fused together into a V-shape, with smaller pieces stuck around the joint. One is blue, and the other is purple. The shards are internal.
	The gemstone of Patient 1 – three shards fused at one point. One is teal, the other red, and the other gray.
	The gemstone of Patient 2. A large purple squarish shard, with small yellow and blue shards attached.
	The gemstone of the Cluster with a Light Green head that has one eye and mouth on its face, a light blue body and left hand, a big green foot as its right hand, and purple lower body.
	The gemstone of the Big White Hand Cluster.
	The gemstone of the Blue Hand with seven fingers and a foot Cluster.
	The gemstone of the cluster with a round violet body, three blue limbs, and an eye.
	The gemstone of the small cluster with a blue hand and red leg.
	The gemstone of the cluster with a big blue hand and pink foot.
	The gem of the cluster with three tumors.

Gallery

Click to view the gallery for Cluster Gems.