Caboose's Relationships

One running gag in the series is how Caboose interacts with other characters.

Blue Team
Caboose seems to like all of his teammates with the exception of Tucker.

Church
Caboose's most prominent relationship is his remarkable admiration of Church, whom he calls his best friend. After dealing him several initial misfortunes, including inadvertently killing him while driving Sheila, Caboose was eager to make amends and become Church's friend; his attempts to do so inevitably failed. Even though Church seems to hate him, partially due to killing him, Caboose still has wide-eyed admiration for him and will do anything to please him. In Caboose's Mind, Church is his foul mouthed best-friend, who is later killed by Omega and replaced by Yellow Church for some time. Caboose seems incapable of understanding Church's dislike for him and will often disregard Church's statements of irritation toward him.

Caboose is also incredibly loyal to Church, offering to go in his place to the Freelancer base with Washington. Though this is shot down by Wash, it actually impresses Sarge due to his unthinking willingness to sacrifice himself. For his part, Church puts up with Caboose, but often loses his temper at him. However, over time Church has proven to become nicer and more caring towards Caboose. In Episode 76 for example, Caboose implied that he didn't know how pregnancy occurred, and Church promised to read a book with him. In Episode 98, Church even seemed genuinely distraught when Wyoming and Gary kill Caboose.

Epsilon
At the end of Reconstruction, Epsilon remains in Caboose's possession, which was not Washington's intention, as Caboose was meant to hand over the unit to the authorities but forgot. Caboose treats it as a friend and tells it stories, while attempting to build a robot body so Epsilon can be his "new super best friend." Later, he manages to transfer Epsilon into a Forerunner Monitor, gaining the personality of Church. Following this, Caboose and Epsilon's relationship becomes similar to Caboose and Church's relationship, except a bit more friendly.

In Season 10, despite replacing Epsilon with Wash, Caboose retains his friendship with him. However, their friendship is greatly strained when Epislon blames him and the other Reds and Blues for causing him trouble on a daily basis. Thankfully, in Reckless, Caboose was able to forgive Epsilon, eagerly going with the rest of the gang to rescue him and Carolina. In True Colors, when the two met again, Epsilon was able to help Caboose remember how to get angry and unlock his fearsome fighting skills, implying that he has a fondness for Caboose.

Tucker
When Caboose first arrived at Blood Gulch, he didn't have much of a problem with Tucker. He eventually grew to hate him due to his belief that Tucker was trying with him for Church's attention. In Caboose's Mind, Tucker is portrayed as annoying with a simplistic and disgusting state of mind. This is mostly because he sees Tucker as a rival for Church's love. However, Tucker seems to be more tolerant of Caboose than most characters, even showing signs of liking him at times, though most of the time he finds him equally as irritating as Caboose views him to be. In the episode This One Goes to Eleven, Caboose becomes disappointed at the fact that he rescued Tucker from Tex, further pointing out his dislike for him.

It can be noted that Caboose occasionally contradicts himself on his view of Tucker. He states that he never really liked Tucker, but will still show concern for him and call him his 'friend'.

Sheila
Caboose first met Sheila when he went to help Tucker and Church. Caboose grows to believe that Sheila is his "girlfriend" and becomes very jealous of Lopez and Sheila's relationship. He even tries to call Sheila back to him by baking her a muffin, as in Episode 36. When the ship containing Sheila was found by Washington, Church, and Caboose in Reconstruction, he asks if she's there. When Washington began ordering the ship to do things, Caboose snaps back "Do not talk to her like that. She is not a program," with Church nervously backing away saying, "I'm just gonna stand behind Caboose for a few minutes. You know, for safety."

Tex
Caboose doesn't interact with Tex a lot in the series, but, when Tex first arrived at Blood Gulch, she used him for target practice. He appears to have a fearful respect for her and tries to be polite in his own way. Tex, however, doesn't return the favor and continues to find ways to torment him, like punching him while he's asleep (as referenced in Episode 56). In a conversation during the end of Season 5, he practiced his way of talking to women with her so he could run a decoy with Sheila. Caboose stated that she was pretty and that he was happy that she hadn't hurt his body in a while. Interestingly enough, Caboose has no revealed concept of Tex in his mind.

Washington
Caboose seems to like Agent Washington, although becomes slightly scared of him after he kills Agent South. In Caboose's Mind, Washington calls himself "Agent Washing-Tub," acts very secretively, and likes to scare people that are "just trying to help him" (though Church notes that this is actually quite similar to how he acts in the real world). Caboose also believes that Washington fights futuristic aliens and robots with his "Freelancer Powers." However, his negative perception of Washington does not prevent him from contacting him in Chapter 5 of Recreation for help nor prevent him from acting friendly towards Washington.

At the end of Revelation, Caboose welcomes Wash into the blue team to keep him from going to prison. In the premiere of Season 10, it's realized Caboose sometimes called Washington "Church" because his new armor color was confusing, and apparently sang happy birthday to him on one occasion. Caboose states in Season 10: Episode 12 that he thinks of Washington as a friend. Washington also returns the sentiment, as he points his gun at Carolina for aiming at Tucker in Change of Plans and tells her his disliking of people threatening his friends.

Sister
Caboose's only interaction with Sister was when he gave her a tour of the base. In Caboose's mind, Sister is Church's twin-brother who came from the moon but is blown-up when Church throws a grenade at his feet to get back outside.

Junior
Caboose seems to take a liking towards Junior. Caboose gave a gallon of blood to Junior and was there when Tucker first saw him, telling Tucker to tell him "how his Dad got to third base with you." Caboose even said that he wanted to scrapbook with Junior.

Red Team
Caboose doesn't treat the Reds as enemies, more like neighbors, due to his friendly disposition, especially after the Blood Gulch Chronicles.

Sarge
Caboose was teleported to Battle Creek with Sarge and seemed to get along with him, though Sarge did say Caboose made him miss Grif. After the two got out of Battle Creek, Caboose asked if he could "push the button to make [the microphone] go?" Sarge complied and even said, "Heh, what a little rascal," showing some admiration of his innocence, much to Simmons' dislike. Later, Sarge showed respect for Caboose when he asked for Washington to take him instead of Church (encouraging Grif to sacrifice himself as well). When Caboose was presumed to be dead in Chapter 9 of Recreation, Sarge suggests that he and Grif "have a moment of silence in honor of the dead Blue guy" and commences a prayer - however he does so jokingly. In Caboose's mind, Sarge talks with a pirate accent and, on one occasion, a Cockney accent, admitting himself that he's "not very consistent." Unlike the other characters, Caboose mostly refers to Sarge as "Red Sergeant." Additionally, Caboose does not seem to mind taking orders from Sarge, even though he is on the Red Team, such as in Episode 39 and Chapter 19 of Recreation.

Simmons
Caboose hasn't interacted with Simmons very much, although he frequently gets his name wrong, calling him "Simmond" and "Simon", while Simmons sees Caboose as an idiot. However, he does manage to say his name correctly in Chapter 3 of Recreation. Caboose's mental projection of Simmons speaks in a high voice, believes himself to be called "Simon," and is scared very easily. As the series progresses, both begin to treat one another like neighbors.

Grif
Although not much has happened between these two, Caboose once believed his name to be "Gruf", but in later learned his real-name. In Valhalla, Grif treats Caboose more like an annoying neighbor than his enemy. In Caboose's mind, Grif is yellow and Simmons calls him "the orangish guy whose name I forget." In Recreation, Caboose mispelled his name as Griff.

Donut
Caboose and Donut seem to get along quite amicably, quickly becoming good friends when Donut is captured by the Blues in Season 2, and they renew this friendship in Recreation, when Donut went to the Blue Base for help. When Caboose first saw Donut, he thought he was a female. In Caboose's Mind, Donut is a female even though Caboose knows Donut. As a running gag between the two characters, Caboose often confuses Donut's name with other types of pastry, calling him "Private Biscuit," "Lieutenant McMuffin," "Admiral Buttercrust," "Commander Poppin Fresh" and "Major Cinnamon Bun" in their first encounter at Blood Gulch. This is also referenced at the start of Recreation, where Caboose recognizes Donut as "Muffin Man" (although from then on Caboose manages to get Donut's name right). Although they are on different teams, Donut acknowledges their friendship in Episode 38.

Lopez
Caboose dislikes Lopez, due to Sheila's interest in him.

Carolina
Caboose does not seem to be visibly intimidated by Carolina, and believed that she was pretty under her armor when she threatened to show her "ugly side", which angered her. He also calls her "Caroline" implying that he doesn't really know her name like he did with Washington for a while.

Omega
Caboose is first infected by Omega (a.k.a. O'Malley) at the end of Season 1, and is most likely the main reason for Caboose's long mental decline. Whilst infected, Caboose had the tendency to periodically say agressive things in a deep, threatening voice. It is highly possible that the battle between Tex, Church and O'malley inside Caboose's mind, as well as the A.I.'s subsequent expulsion, damaged his mind, causing him to become more separated from reality. After the A.I. was ejected from Caboose's mind, Caboose gained the ability to unlock a beserk rage inside himself, stating that "O'malley taught me to be mean." Caboose has stated that he and O'malley "were like roommates." Omega, however, does not appear to share this sentiment; when infecting Caboose for the second time, during the climax of the Blood Gulch chronicles, the A.I. states, "Wait - what am I doing inside this idiot!?"

Delta
Caboose seems to like Delta and apparently trusts him as Epsilon-Delta states that he "was a trusted source of infomation" for Caboose. Delta seems not only able to tolerate his stupidity, but also enjoys his company, which is ironic considering he's the Alpha's logic and Caboose lacks any. It is likely because of possessing Caboose, Delta was able to find out what Church is.

Crunchbite
When Caboose first met the alien Crunchbite, Caboose told the others that he bit him. Later, Caboose decided he wanted to keep Crunchbite as a pet. He also wanted to name him "Fluffy, the alien that only loves." The alien, however, says his name is "Honk Honk," but is not believed by Church and Tucker.

Doc
Caboose doesn't seem to mind Doc, though in Season 5, after Doc fed Junior some of Caboose's blood, Caboose tells Church "Don't leave me with the horrible Doctor," terrified of what else Doc would do to him.

Andy
Caboose and Andy get along quite well. In Episode 54, Caboose tries to explain to the other Blues that Andy had spoken to him but, because Andy did not reply back at that time, the Blues merely thought Caboose was going crazy. Andy took offense to the fact that the others found it difficult to speak to him, thinking that they are the "too good to talk to a bomb" types; this is likely the reason why he befriends Caboose so easily, because Caboose was able to overlook the fact that he is a bomb and speak to him normally. Andy additionally is not an insensitive, vulgar jerk towards Caboose (as he is towards the others), such as in Episode 57 and 76. In the latter of the two episodes, it is clear that Caboose thinks highly of Andy when (unbeknownst to him) Sarge swaps Andy for Lopez's head; Caboose believes Andy to have turned human and immediately grows excited, but then after Sarge swaps Lopez with a skull, Caboose is heartbroken and cries to Church and Doc about the death of his "second best friend."