Pop-Cub Relationship

This article focuses on the interactions between Pop and Cub.
==Overview==
Pop is usually portrayed as reckless and dimwitted for what he does to Cub, and is also known for his obliviousness, which often causes his son's deaths most of the time and not even noticing it for the most part. Nevertheless, note that almost every death happens by accident and that Pop truly loves and deeply cares about Cub. In some episodes, Pop treats him very well and even spoils him to make his son happy.
==Pop’s Side==
Pop’s entire character is based on his ignorance, irresponsibly, and recklessness toward his son. He has unintentionally killed Cub sixteen times and intentionally killed him once in Read 'em and Weep where he beat Cub to death with a shovel not realizing that his son was no longer possessed by a demon. In addition to causing his deaths, Pop will repeatedly and unintentionally cause great pain and suffering for Cub through these traits. There are too many cases of this to list but a few notable examples are: in And the Kitchen Sink, he burned Cub with hot water and turned the garbage disposal on when Cub was still in the sink causing his lower half to be shredded down; in Water Way to Go, he opened a soda that was clearly much too shaken up which slammed into Cub’s face and leaves Cub alone while buried in sand; and in Stealing the Spotlight, he hit Cub with a ladder knocking one of his teeth out and later dropped a bucket of nails on Cub’s head. He has even been shown on rare occasions to intentionally cause Cub pain or suffering by being cheap. In And the Kitchen Sink, Pop attempts to get Cub out of the sink by tying a length of rope around Cub and the other end to him truck and driving, this causes Cub (still in the kitchen sink) to be dragged all through town by his neck. In Stealing the Spotlight, after the bucket of nails falls on Cub, Pop not only attempts to remove the nails the same way one would take them out of a block of wood but when one wouldn’t come out, he simply hammered the nail the rest of the way in and earlier tried to hammer the tooth back in as well. He also choose the vase over saving the possessed Cub in Read 'em and Weep. However, the worst evidence of Pop’s poor parenting skills is that he is shown to only recognize his son by the fact that he wears a beanie. In Every Litter Bit Hurts, when he fished out Cub’s remains, he didn’t think anything of it, mistaking them for trash but later panics when he finds Cub’s beanie and in Concrete Solution, he went shopping with Nutty’s cement stomach because Cub’s beanie was on it. He also has Cub mow the grass while he naps in Chip Off the Ol' Block and completely leaves him alone for the entirety of: Clause For Concern, his Smoochie, Something Fishy, Tunnel Vision, Treasure Those Idol Moments, Let It Slide, Rink Hijinks, It's a Snap, and I Get a Trick Out of You when Cub is clearly too young to be unsupervised.
Despite all this though, Pop is often show to truly care about Cub and has even been shown to almost spoil Cub. In their debut, Pop crosses a busy street getting hit by multiple cars and a bike in order to retrieve Cub’s ball as a consequence, becoming the only character who rarely dies to die in their debut. Also, in As You Wish, Pop uses his only wish from the genie to fix Cub’s toy truck and make him happy instead of making a wish for himself and later becomes very distressed when Cub is injured and later killed and can be seen trying to gather Cub’s remains. In Snip Snip Hooray!, Pop gives Cub his first haircut and stops him from playing with scissors that would have likely injured or even killed him. At the beginning of And the Kitchen Sink, Pop went through a plantation of cacti to reach Cub and later after believing that Cub was dead from the waterfall, Pop began to cry at his loss, but Pop became extremely happy seeing Cub alive. In A Hole Lotta Love, upon believing that his son fell down a well, Pop recruited The Mole, Sniffles, and Lumpy to use a giant drill to search for Cub underground. In Who's to Flame?, Pop also acted very quickly to try to save Cub from a falling ladder, though the attempt was in vain. In A Sucker for Love Part 1, Pop not only gives Cub a very large lollipop but when the lollipop is stolen by Nutty, he engages the addict in a fight to retrieve his son’s treat. Pop even revived Cub as a robot in Cubtron Z. Also, in Wrath of Con, Pop took Cub to see Splendid despite that Pop has been shown to despise Splendid himself. In Doggone It, he not only bought Cub a new puppy but went against what Cub asked for in favor of what appeared to be a much safer dog and reacted horrified and called for help from animal control when this proved not to be the case. Pop will also often be shown to try to make up for his mistakes in parenting. In Chip Off the Ol' Block, Pop immediately takes over the chore after seeing Cub trying to reach a brick near the razors of the lawnmower and in Snip Snip Hooray!, after cutting off Cub’s ear, Pop gives him a lollipop in order to amend his pain. Similarly, after accidentally burning Cub, Pop attempted to cool him down in a bathtub and gave Cub a rubber duck in And the Kitchen Sink. He also called in Lumpy to exorcise the demon from Cub in Read 'em and Weep and is shown mourning his grave at the end of the episode. In Water Way to Go, Pop got him a different soda after failing at the first one and immediately rushed to Cub’s rescue when the tide submerged him.
==Cub’s Side==
Despite Pop’s maltreatment of Cub, Cub is shown to be extremely forgiving and loving toward Pop seeming to hold little to no hard feelings for the mistreatment. In Havin' A Ball, he cheered Pop across the street likely oblivious to the danger in doing so and was happy to see Pop when he reaches the bottom of the cliff. In Doggone It, he also very quickly trusted his father’s judgement on getting Whistle instead of the other aggressive dog as soon as Whistle gave him a puppy kiss. In Chip Off the Ol' Block, he mowed the lawn for Pop without complaining. Like many kids, in Snip Snip Hooray!, he can be seen imitating Pop’s behavior with the razor showing that he looks up to his father as a role model. In Water Way to Go, he was shown to be very relieved to see Pop’s feet underwater believing that he was saved. In Chore Loser, when he was being attacked by the vicious Whistle-like dog, Cub immediately tried to go to Pop for help though he failed at catching his father’s attention and did so again when chocking on the popcorn in Pop & Corn. In Easy For You to Sleigh, Cub can be seen bringing Pop a book that he wanted read to him showing that he wanted to spend some quality time with his father. He will also forgive his injuries when something is offered to make up for it as seen in And the Kitchen Sink with the rubber ducky, in Water Way to Go with the new soda, and in Snip Snip Hooray! with the lollipop. He can even be seen to forgive the injuries on his own as seen in Stealing the Spotlight. He was also seen debatably crying over Pop’s death at the end of Spare Tire though this could have been over his own injuries. In A Hole Lotta Love, Cub was also very happy to see Pop arrive in the drill machine. He also attempted to point out Handy’s distress (which he found funny) to Pop for him to see in Don't Yank My Chain.
Cub initially responds to the injuries Pop causes him by crying and/or screaming and, unlike the other times, seems to never have actually forgiven him for his face being ripped off in A Sucker for Love Part 1. Even outside of mistreatment, Cub may occasionally act negatively towards Pop though these are also in ways that are to be expected from his age. In Chore Loser, he is initially upset over having to put his game down to rake the leaves though he does still do the chore. Similarly, in A Vicious Cycle, he was upset over having to take his tricycle outside even though he likely wasn’t the one who rode it inside. He also wasn’t happy about not being able to get the book he wanted in Read 'em and Weep and reacted negatively to the book Pop had chosen even before it was read. He also doesn’t seem to notice Pop’s death in Havin' A Ball despite seeing his remains and laughed when he and Pop were sucked out of the plane in Wingin' It. Once again, he doesn’t seem bothered at all by his father’s death in A Vicious Cycle even ringing his eye ball like a bell. However, these three may be because Cub is only a baby and may be naïve to the concept of death. In Cubtron Z, he also sat on Pop as a giant robot crushing Pop though Pop had indicated for him to do so. To a lesser extent, in And the Kitchen Sink, when Pop was trying to just pull him out of the sink, Cub went limp just weakly whimpering indicating that he had given up hope on Pop being able to get him out.
==Trivia==
*Pop and Cub are the only bear characters to be related to each other.
*They are each other's most frequent victim.
*They are the only characters without a rainbow color, which makes them the closest to their actual animals color.
*They appear to have the closest bond out of all the duo characters. Despite being the only one to be seen separate.
*Both Pop and Cub hold a grudge against Nutty and Whistle.
*Both Pop and Cub (along with Splendid) were the only characters who did not interact with Flaky.
Category:Relationships
Category:Happy Tree Friends Universe