Pop

Pop
Species	Bear
First appearance	Happy Tree Friends - Havin' A Ball (2000)
Latest appearance	Happy Tree Friends - A Handy Nanny (2016)
Latest portrayal	Aubrey Ankrum (2000 - present)

Pop is a fatherly bear from the Happy Tree Friends franchise. He is the father of Cub (hence his name), and he portrays himself as an incompetent and irresponsible individual, indirectly causing harm to Cub, others, or himself. His most defining traits are his robe, cap, and the pipe he smokes.  

Concept and creation

Pop's first design was similar to his final design except for his robe and buckteeth (a common trait with earlier designs). His second design would eventually give him the robe. He also had the working name Poppy.

History

Happy Tree Friends

Pop first appears in the season 1 episode, "Havin' a Ball", alongside Cub. His debut episode differs from other episodes he appears in as he does not cause Cub harm. "Chip Off the Ol' Block" depicts Pop as unaware of Cub's death, indirectly burning his corpse in the process. Pop would initially see his son die and intentionally burn his body without remorse in a deleted scene, in stark contrast to him mourning his death in later episodes. The creators felt the scene was too harsh and changed it, so Pop was more unaware than he was. Season 2 would eventually portray Pop as more negligent, as shown in "Snip Snip Hooray!", he does not realize Cub has the razor in his mouth and plugs it in, causing him to die. Despite this, Pop does not realize his son died and attempts to cut his hair, assuming he is sleeping. In "Water Way to Go", Pop is a bit more aware of his son's demise after he indirectly buried him.

After the television series, Pop intentionally kills Cub in "Read 'em and Weep" to exorcise the demon controlling him, without knowing Lumpy already doing it. "Something Fishy" marks the first appearance of Pop without Cub.

Pop's BBQ Smoochie

Pop appears in his smoochie, Pop's BBQ Smoochie. The Smoochie revolves around Pop engaging in barbeque-themed activities such as grilling, eating corn, and eating a kabob. All of these actions cause Pop to die.

Happy Tree Friends (television series)

Pop appears in the television adaptation of Happy Tree Friends. First appearing in the last two segments of "One Foot in the Grave": "From Hero to Eternity", and "And the Kitchen Sink". Pop has the same role in the internet series, though poor parenting is more severe. However, unlike other appearances, the episode "And the Kitchen Sink" is the first time Pop notices that Cub dies.

Fire Escape

Pop appears as one of the victims in the burning building that Flaky must rescue. The same victim can come out of the building twice, resulting in two Pops that Flaky has to rescue.

Biography

Personality

Pop's personality is similar to Lumpy's as he is unintelligent and usually causes the deaths of others. He rarely interacts with anyone besides Cub, and he is usually portrayed as impatient and grumpy when he does. In "A Hole Lotta Love", he pressures Sniffles to rescue Cub to the point where they fight. In "A Hole Lotta Love", he gets annoyed at Mime when trying to order food. In "From Hero to Eternity", Pop is annoyed with Splendid every time he tries leaving.

Physical appearance

Pop is a brown tan adult bear who retains most of the features that the majority of the cast shares, such as short stature. He wears a dark-red bathrobe with a light-red belt and a dark-red cap, though his attire sometimes changes in certain episodes. In addition, he wields a brown pipe that he smokes the vast majority of the time. However, he is sometimes seen without it and the pipe has dropped out of his mouth in many instances. Apparently, as stated in his Collect 'em All card, he even smokes in his sleep.

Occupations

Pop is perpetually a full-time father, as he has a son that he has to take care of. However, Pop is very dimwitted and incompetent, which leads to Cub either getting lost, injured, or even killed.

In Clause For Concern, Pop is a mall Santa. He plans to go to the designated mall to fulfill his occupation but is halted by many obstacles.

In A Handy Nanny, he is depicted as a bowler. Though it is off-screen, by what it can be seen by the resolution, Pop is a proficient bowling champion, as he has won a whopping tremendous trophy.

In Every Litter Bit Hurts, Pop is an environmental volunteer. He works alongside Giggles during this episode and performs most of his tasks competently. However, he fishes out Cub's beanie and starts to panic. He is later killed by a pinecone.

Relationships

Speech

Pop speaks in a very deep voice. Interestingly, he is one of few characters whose speech is intelligible. For instance, in Chip Off the Ol' Block, he tells Cub to "stay here". The episode where he spoke the most and was more coherent was Water Way to Go, where he has very clear lines throughout the episode.

Trivia

• According to the Happy Tree Friends QA section, which is handled by Kenn Navarro, Ken Pontac, and Warren Graff, on the official Mondo website, Pop is one of their favorite Happy Tree Friends characters, the other being Cub.