“ Mamamamamamamamamaa. ” —"Onion Friend"

Onion Nickname(s) Little Troublemaker (Vidalia)

Onion-I-Think (Aquamarine)

Naughty Dumpling (Rainbow Quartz 2.0)

My Boy (Rainbow Quartz 2.0) Characteristics Species Human Sex Male Traits Hair Blond Eyes Reddish brown Personal Status Status Alive Relative(s) Vidalia (mother)

Yellowtail (father)

Sour Cream (older half-brother) Friend(s) Steven Universe

Garbanzo, Pinto, Squash and Soup

Rainbow Quartz 2.0 Media First Appearance "Laser Light Cannon" Voice Actor Zach Callison

Onion is a character in the Steven Universe franchise, and a resident of Beach City. He made his debut in "Laser Light Cannon" as a cameo character. As revealed in "Onion Friend", he is the son of Yellowtail and Vidalia and the half-brother of Sour Cream.

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Appearance

Onion is a fair-skinned boy with a small tuft of blond hair and a chubby face. He wears a white sweater, a deep periwinkle shirt tied around his neck, and pale red footie pants. His most recognizable trait is his onion-like head (although the top is thinner than the bottom, not resembling a normal onion). He also does not have any visible ears.

Personality

Onion is a comparatively quiet character who does not speak except to his parents, and then sparingly. He speaks in a gibberish language that is apparently intelligible by most characters, but that is not spoken by anyone else except his father (and Sour Cream on rare occasions). He is also capable of understanding basic English and will occasionally respond to direct questions in English with simple gestures, as is shown in "Onion Friend." Onion is eager to help people. He will blindly follow orders even if they don't seem very well thought out, such as in the episode "Bubble Buddies", when he shot a harpoon at Steven's bubble. He cannot stand being lied to, especially by close friends, as shown in "Steven's Lion".

He has been seen to indulge in criminal activities, particularly theft. In "So Many Birthdays", he is seen stealing tickets from an arcade machine, which explains how he had enough to win a moped in "Arcade Mania". This is further emphasized in "Onion Trade" with Onion's delinquent behaviors such as destroying the moped for no apparent reason. He also stole Steven's Chaaaaps and Ranger Guy in the episodes "Onion Friend" and "Onion Trade", respectively. Onion's delinquent and kleptomaniacal behavior can be attributed to his severe loneliness as a grab for attention, due to his father constantly being at sea. He does not seem to understand or simply not care when and if he is hurting people, has no qualms with stealing what he wants, and does things obliviously in the name of fun. This could be attributed to his young age and lack of moral understanding. He continues his bad acts in "Watermelon Steven", when he steals Steven's Baby Melon, despite Steven stating he wasn't for sale. In "Political Power", Onion seems to be on the verge of attacking Mayor Dewey as he held his baseball bat menacingly.

Later, in "Too Short to Ride", the severity of his criminal acts appear to have escalated. He is shown preparing to burn down the roller coaster at Funland when it had people on it, with implications that it wasn't his first attempt. In "Future Boy Zoltron", Onion is shown about to terrorize Funland Arcade with a crowbar. At this point, Steven starts to worry that Onion will end up in prison.

He has also been shown to have a rather strange fixation with food, in that he is never seen eating it but instead throwing or destroying said food as said by Steven and proven in "Onion Trade" and "Onion Friend". The only food he does seem to enjoy is Guacola, as he is seen taking several sips in "Drop Beat Dad". However, this may no longer be the case as he was seen eating some Chaaaaps during Ruby and Sapphire's wedding. He seems to have an overall strange personality, as he is a very difficult person to understand and predict.

History

Onion is seen running from the Red Eye.

Onion greets Steven and Connie when they were trapped in Steven’s bubble.

He’s seen eating at Fish Stew Pizza.

Onion plays games at the arcade, winning a large prize.

He’s seen yet again at the arcade, this time playing skee ball.

Onion hangs out with Steven and the Crystal Gems, with them learning just how strange he is.

Steven sees Onion within his room, with Onion being in his imagination.

Along with many other citizens, Onion watches in shock as he sees the ocean after it was stolen by Lapis Lazuli.

Onion is very quickly seen by Garnet.

Onion converses and buys one of the Watermelon Stevens.

He’s seen wielding a bat.

Onion is seen standing outside of the arcade as the Gem Warship comes to Beach City.

He’s briefly seen sitting with his dad Yellowtail.

Ronaldo attempts to interview Onion, however, he runs away.

Onion steals some of Steven’s potato chips, leading him to his house where they spend some time together.

Onion is seen in Steven's imagination at the Big Donut.

He’s seen in the crowd of his brother Sour Cream’s attempt at a concert.

Onion is seen for one frame at Beach City Funland.

Lars, being controlled by Steven, tries to say hi to Onion, with him running away.

Onion is seen standing outside of Steven’s door.

Steven talked to Onion, pretending to be Future Boy Zoltron at the time.

Onion once again steals Steven’s chips, leading him to his many friends.

Ronaldo tries to give Onion a pamphlet, which he refuses.

He is seen throughout the episode, getting abducted by Aquamarine and Topaz at the end of the episode.

Sour Cream is shown looking for his brother, only for Onion to be revealed to be stuck inside of Topaz.

Onion is still trapped in Topaz, being freed by Steven admitting he has Rose Quartz’s gemstone.

He stands with the crowd protesting against Mayor Dewey.

Onion is shown selling onions.

He’s seen climbing up a fence by Steven and Garnet.

Onion is in the Big Donut looking at the Lion Lickers.

Onion is seen walking on the sidewalk.

He attends Garnet’s wedding, happily eating chips.

Onion stands on the beach after everyone is reunited and the Crystals Gems have returned.

He’s seen in Beach City, being saved by Connie and Lion after Spinel’s injector exploded.

Onion is seen sitting in the broken rollercoaster as it drifts n the water.

Onion spends the day being babysat by Rainbow Quartz 2.0, spending his time with them and not wanting them to leave.

He’s seen dancing at the party in Steven’s nightmare.

Onion joins Little Larimar and Zebra Jasper in a day of learning.

He plays in the baseball game played in Little Homeworld.

Onion is seen waving goodbye to Steven as he left Beach City.

Relationships

Steven is Onion's friend whom he has known in the past and is eager to help. They may get along, but it is a one-sided relationship as Onion isn't known to talk to anyone but his father and his mother. However, his mother says that Onion talks a lot about Steven. Steven seems to wonder what Onion is doing most of the time. In "Onion Friend", Onion seems to do certain actions specifically to push Steven's buttons as a form of childish teasing, wasting food intentionally knowing that it bothered Steven and pretending to feed a mouse to his pet snake to scare him. He also seems to steal from Steven pretty often, from his Ranger Guy to his bag of chips. Onion, however, is shown to care about Steven as he gave him his Explorer Gal as well as show him his collection of G.U.Y.S. and G.A.L.S. in his secret room. Steven also seems concerned about Onion's criminal behavior, telling him he has a future in prison if he continues. Despite his teasing of Steven, deep down he considers him one of his best friends, even introducing him to his summer friends before they had to go back to school.

Onion doesn't see his father often due to him being at sea most of the time, and this causes Onion to spend a lot of time wandering around, unsupervised. When Onion does see his father, he has been shown to speak to him in an unknown language. Yellowtail is one of the people Onion has been shown to speak to.

Vidalia, his mother, shows a very close relationship, with her being the only other person he talks aloud to, albeit just the word "mama". She also encourages his expressive nature. Whether she is aware of Onion's strange and unnerving activities is currently unknown.

Onion and Connie have only met once in "Bubble Buddies", but Onion has been shown to be able to understand Connie easier than Steven, shown when she spelled "Harpoon Gun" backwards on the bubble shield they were trying to pop, while Steven attempted to draw one.

Onion and Sour Cream have never been seen interacting, although they are shown together in the evacuation of Beach City in "The Return" and the opening theme. In "Joy Ride", it is confirmed that Sour Cream and Onion are related. Explored further in "Onion Friend", it is confirmed that they are half-brothers. Onion has never shown any attachment towards Sour Cream, however Sour Cream seems to love and care for his brother, despite Onion's criminal and disturbing behaviour. This is shown in "Are You My Dad" when Sour Cream's going around town putting up fliers for his missing brother. It is unknown if he is aware of Onion's 'activities'.

In "Onion Trade", Onion enters Suitcase Sam's store and is given a hamburger by him for unknown reasons, suggesting they may be friends. He also has a poster of Suitcase Sam on his wall in his room, as revealed in "Onion Friend".

They are Onion's friends whom he spends time with during the summer. Together they enjoy lots of mischief, such as riding in a homemade go-kart, taking surprise photos of the people of Beach City, and racing bugs. Sadly, however, they do not live in Beach City, and leave for school in the fall. This was shown to upset Onion deeply, bringing him to tears for the first time onscreen.

In Sunstone's PSA in "A Very Special Episode", Pearl is freaked out by Onion's antics when left alone with him.

In Sunstone's PSA in "A Very Special Episode", Onion considers Rainbow Quartz 2.0 a friend and misses them when they're gone. Whenever Onion makes a mess while playing, Rainbow gently chastises him for it and cleans the mess up.

Episode Appearances

Trivia

Onion is seen behind Connie in the original intro where Mr. Smiley stops him from running out into traffic. He can also be seen on the roof of The Big Donut in the second intro.

So far, Onion has only communicated with his dad and mother, and all of his dialogue has been very similar to Yellowtail's. This can be heard more clearly in "Onion Gang".

Rebecca Sugar first hinted in a Reddit AMA that Sour Cream and Onion are related. "Joy Ride" later depicted Sour Cream referring to Yellowtail as his stepdad, and "Onion Friend" confirmed that Sour Cream and Onion are half-brothers. This makes them a play on "Sour Cream and Onion", a popular flavor of potato chips.

Steven has been shown to doubt if Onion is human in "Marble Madness".

Onion seems to have a phone, despite that he has never been seen to speak to anyone other than Yellowtail and Vidalia. It's shown that Steven has him in his phone's contact list in "The Return". As Onion understands English, it is possible that he and Steven can communicate more easily through texting.

Onion owns a pet snake, which he tries to get Steven to feed with a mouse found in his room. In the comic story Lion Tamer, Onion is seen at a pet contest walking a pet alligator. [1]

Onion owns an impressive collection of both toy G.U.Y.S. and G.A.L.S. which includes a Red Variant of Ninja Guy, Hardhat Gal, Triangle Gal, Orange Gal, Karen, and Explorer Gal, the last of which he proceeds to give to Steven.

Onion owns a poster of The Door in his room; an obvious reference to the 1960s rock band The Doors .

in his room; an obvious reference to the 1960s rock band . Onion is described as "???????" in "Rising Tides, Crashing Skies" while being interviewed.

The bat that Onion held in "Political Power" originally had nails in it during storyboarding, but they were removed in the final version.

The flyers that were used when Onion went missing had "MISSING" written over "Wanted", indicating that Onion is a wanted criminal.

Rebecca Sugar admits that she doesn't remember what inspired Onion, but that his personality was inspired by her step-brothers. [2]

He is most likely a late bloomer, as he hasn't visibly aged during the 2 year time skip in the movie, though it may just be another strange and unexplained aspect of Onion.

When Steven and Spinel are using Lion’s portals to search for Amethyst in the movie, Onion is seen in every location they teleport to, despite the teleportation only taking a few seconds. This is most likely a gag relating to Onion's mysteriousness.

Galleries

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Onion.

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Onion.









References