Lars Barriga

"Lars" is a character that debuted in the Pilot. He is a minor character. He works at the Big Donut with Sadie.

Appearance
Lars is lanky and somewhat tall, he wears tunnels in his stretched ear-lobes. His curly, orange-brown hair is styled into a sort of mohawk. He usually wears a white-gray long sleeved shirt with a green shirt sporting a snake design over it, along with a pair of ripped, dark blue jeans. In regards to his shoes, Lars is often seen wearing mint and dark-green high top sneakers. At the Big Donut, his work uniform is a violet t-shirt over a pale cream long-sleeved shirt with a half-eaten donut design on it.

In "Joking Victim", Lars is seen wearing a honey-brown t-shirt with a purple-red scorpion on it, which is reference to when Buck Dewey tells Lars that the snake on his shirt is "nasty" in "Lars and the Cool Kids". In "Horror Club", he wears skull plugs in his gauges and dons a long-sleeved black shirt with a red jacket that was also seen in "Lars and the Cool Kids". In the pilot episode, Lars wore a cyan shirt with a salmon collar, and black trousers.

Personality
Lars has a bit of a mean personality which stems from his low self-esteem, which is shown to have been carried over from his childhood, as seen in "Horror Club". As a result, he routinely ridicules Steven, who is an easy target. He likes to aggravate him by discrediting the Crystal Gems, although he might just be jealous that Steven gets to hang out with "a bunch of hot girls" as mentioned in "Pilot". Like many Beach City citizens, Lars is aware of Steven's powers, but he doesn't think much of them. It's worth noting that this too could be a facade. Lars can be immature and thoughtless at times, such as when he disrespects Steven's mother (Rose Quartz) in "Lars and the Cool Kids". More often than not, Steven either misses or ignores Lars' taunts because he believes he's a good person deep down. Lars is also a slacker, a trait that was highlighted in "Joking Victim", in which he faked a back injury in order to get out of work. Sadie has mentioned that Lars has tendencies to occasionally turn up late to work and clock out early, as shown in "Lion 3: Straight to Video". Lars has a strong desire to fit in and cares deeply about how others view him, especially the cool kids. Despite his rude facade, he seems to have a bit of a soft side that has been brought out time and time again by Sadie and Steven.

Sadie
Lars works with Sadie at the Big Donut. They are often seen at Beach City events and gatherings together, as seen in "Tiger Millionaire" and at the end of "Steven and the Stevens". Sadie has had a crush on Lars since long before the events of "Island Adventure", but he was never aware of it. In "Island Adventure", they grow closer and end up making-out briefly -- until Steven, unaware of the inherent intimacy and privacy of the situation, awkwardly interrupts them and ruins the moment. In subsequent episodes he seems to return Sadie's feelings as he was visibly uncomfortable and showed signs of jealousy when Ronaldo got along well with Sadie in "Horror Club".

Steven
In early episodes Lars appears to be annoyed by Steven because he sees him as a little kid that cramps his "cool teenager style". Steven is oblivious to this fact however, and as younger kids often do, looks up to the older and cooler Lars and wants desperately to be his friend. He even goes so far as to call him his 'BFF' in "Bubble Buddies", even as Lars is blatantly making fun of and teasing him -- and in "Future Vision" Steven doesn't mind risking getting third degree burns all over his body for a slim chance of receiving a high-five from Lars. However, he once became angry with Lars and called him a jerk for insulting his mother. As of "Lars and the Cool Kids", Lars and Steven find a way to connect and Lars is seemingly on better terms with Steven, having not insulted him since.

Ronaldo
In "Horror Club", Lars and Ronaldo were shown to be childhood friends but their relationship became strained after Ronaldo took a picture of Lars being hit in the face by a board in a gem possessed lighthouse which sent him flying. Ronaldo wanted to release photo to media as proof of the paranormal. However, Lars was embarrassed by the photo and worried about what others would think of him and tore up the photo, much to the dismay of Ronaldo, which lead to their falling out. Lars seems to still be bothered by this event, as he is described by Ronaldo to be "emotionally disturbed".

The Cool Kids
Lars desperately wants to be friends with the "cool kids" and finds anything that they do or say to be cool/hilarious. He will even change his opinion based solely on what they think, even though they don't seem to be bothered by differing opinions. When they first met, the "cool kids" only tolerated Lars because he was friends with Steven in the episode "Lars and the Cool Kids". However, they gradually came to accept Lars into his group of friends. They were later seen happily hanging out with him in "Joking Victim" and Jenny thanked him for inviting them over.

Major Appearances

 * "Tiger Millionaire"
 * "Lars and the Cool Kids"
 * "Coach Steven"
 * "Joking Victim"
 * "Island Adventure"
 * "Horror Club"

Minor Appearances

 * "Pilot"
 * "Gem Glow"
 * "Laser Light Cannon" (non-speaking cameo)
 * "Frybo" (cameo)
 * "Cat Fingers"
 * "Bubble Buddies"
 * "So Many Birthdays"
 * "Rose's Room" (room's magic)
 * "Steven and the Stevens" (cameo)
 * "Mirror Gem"
 * "Ocean Gem"
 * "Watermelon Steven" (non-speaking cameo)
 * "Lion 3: Straight to Video"
 * "Alone Together"
 * "Future Vision"
 * "Marble Madness" (mentioned)
 * "Political Power"
 * "The Return" (non-speaking cameo)
 * "Full Disclosure" (non-speaking cameo)
 * "Say Uncle"
 * "Shirt Club"
 * "Historical Friction"

Trivia

 * Along with Sadie, Lars is one of the first human characters to be shown in either the main series or the pilot.
 * He is sometimes antagonistic towards Steven and Sadie, but he is not technically an "antagonist".
 * Lars and Sadie were one of Rebecca Sugar's first characters, they were first made in college.
 * Lars was originally designed with black hair and a darker skin tone.
 * On the Steven Universe Character Page on cartoonnetwork.com, it says in Lars' description that he is a "High School Slacker", implying that he is currently in high school.
 * Lars does not like fries, as revealed in "Frybo". It may be hinting about his childhood fight with Ronaldo Fryman shown in a flashback in "Horror Club".
 * Lars attends Beach City's underground wrestling arena with Sadie.
 * Rebecca Sugar has confirmed that Lars is banned from the local video game store in Beach City. This was also confirmed by Sadie in "Joking Victim".
 * In "Island Adventure", Lars demonstrates a decent ability to cook food.
 * It has been implied that Lars might have a relation with Sadie that is beyond friendship, since they kissed and had a falling out in "Island Adventure".
 * In "Horror Club", Lars still has feelings for Sadie as he tries to gain her attention to the annoyance of Ronaldo and Steven.
 * Ian Jones-Quartey stated that Lars is not white.

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