Artsy Talks - Tumblr Posts
It’s sad how both of the two biggest South Park fan series ended up getting nuked due to controversy surrounding their respective creators.
I know one was an animation series and the other was a comic series but my point still stands.
Expectative: The season 27 premiere is about Kyle and his personal struggles regarding the current war with a small yet important subplot involving Cartman being a bigot and spiting Kyle.
Reality: The season 27 premiere is primarily about Randy being a mouthpiece for the current war with a subplot involving Cartman and Butters doing something unrelated to the main plot.
I noticed that the main reason why Kyle doesn’t have a lot of merchandising dedicated to him nowadays is because most of his fans are teenage girls and a few adult women who grew up watching the show.
Yeah, he does have male fans as well but the vast majority of his fans tend to be women and girls.
My point is that South Park IS a very male oriented show and even though Trey and Matt don’t mind having female fans, the people behind the marketing department alongside Viacom probably see their adult male fanbase as being extremely profitable and more willingly to buy products of the show.
And who are the characters that the adult male fanbase likes more? Cartman, Butters and Randy! Yeah, those characters do have female fans but they still have a lot of male fans who like and relate to them and so do the creators! Which is already enough for these characters warrant popularity with this specific target demographic.
This "gendered" marketing might explain why pretty much all the female characters are constantly left out or flat out excluded from most of the South Park products that are produced nowadays.
The biggest problem with Procreate imo is the layer limit.
Am I the only one who is sick of Cartman being the one who guides the player on every game involving the new kid?
I’m also tired of seeing almost every kid that isn’t Cartman, Kenny or Butters antagonizing or being neutral/indifferent towards my new kid, I want them to be friends/on good terms with characters like Kyle and it sucks.
I’m starting to realize that is very hard to write Kyle in character because so many people have conflicting opinions on him.
If you write Kyle as being smart and compassionate, people will complain that he's too perfect, if you write Kyle as an one note, brainless bully, people will complain about him being too cruel, however, if you decide to write Kyle as being both, people will also complain that he’s being inconsistently written compared to the rest of the boys.
There’s no winning and that’s sad.
Is just me or people forget Kyle is supposed to be the smart one?
Although Kyle can tease others at times, that does not mean he would outright bully others over their interests.
But that’s just my opinion…
(Joining the Kyle Music Discourse!) Tumblr user crimsondawnstan is right about Kyle’s music taste being kind of hard to pinpoint, cus he totally strikes me as the kind of guy who likes music from a lot of different genres. I do love the idea that he likes the pop side of The Cure. He’s not super into the gothier stuff like Joy Division and Siouxie. It makes me think of other artists that fit him like Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode, The Clash. He’s literally a 90s kid, I totally think he would love Beastie Boys and Eminem. Other artists I get Kyle Vibes from personally are The Smiths, Sufjan Stevens, Nada Surf, Ben Folds, The Shins, The Growlers, Belle and Sebastian, dare I say Mac Demarco? Just a little bit? I think he is a hip hop fan too though and might enjoy a few older Drake songs and be able to at least appreciate 90s rap influences like Biggie and 2Pac. He is not a swiftie, I don’t see him liking mainstream pop or anything that is too loud/whiny/screamy. He would not like pop punk (so rude!) and totally make fun of Stan for loving it. However…there are at least a couple bubblegum pop songs that he does know all the lyrics to and if you get him drunk enough he might be convinced to karaoke it. Happens to us all.
I think Kyle would respect Taylor Swift as a successful woman or whatever (feminist king) but I do not think he would like her music in any capacity. I get wanting your favorite character to like what you like but yeah. I love MCR and I know damn well Kyle would make fun of me for that. It’s okay though I forgive him.
yeah. i agree.
The REAL reason I haven’t been posting a lot of South Park stuff lately.
Am I the only one who still genuinely believes Kyle is a good boy?
The problem isn’t the sweater vest, is when people ONLY draw Kyle wearing this kind of stuff, he likes wearing sports outfits like jerseys too, people.
If people drew fan art of the other ethnic minority characters as stereotypes, the fandom would be rightly outraged. So why do people turn a blind eye when Kyle is drawn wearing a sweater vest, thick glasses, and with a huge hooked nose? How is this remotely acceptable? Especially when there's zero canon basis for any of this?
This is some of the shit that Jews in fandoms deal with on a constant basis. We're really getting sick of people acting like we don't matter or that our grievances are petty.
I feel like people have doubled down on these portrayals since certain events have happened
The fat jokes against Cartman are something I’ve seen talked about commonly, this isn’t Matt and Trey sending their fleet out to hate on fat people, they’re characters. How boring would a show be if every character followed the same set of beliefs and there was no conflict?
Also, kids will make fun of you if you’re fat, skinny, have acne, short, tall, poor, rich, have a different religion, different ethnicity, etc. This is because kids are assholes and once again I will say that they are characters and Cartman is in fact fat, he’s seen eating more than the other boys commonly (people are usually obese because they eat more than others) so authors in fanfics shouldn’t be facing scrutiny for writing him the same way that he is in the show.
I’ve seen more people upset that Kyle calls Cartman fat than I have of people being upset over the fact that Cartman constantly mocks Kyle for being Jewish. I don’t really have a problem with this because ONCE AGAIN, THEY ARE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS.
Writers beliefs don’t always reflect in their writing. Do you think everyone who writes a serial killer supports murder? South Park characters aren’t written to be black and white, good and bad. Do you expect Kyle to consistently be made fun of for his culture and not pick on Cartman for one of his insecurities?
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I like chubby Kyle…as a headcanon only used in AUs, however, I surely agree that it’s kinda stereotypical to only portray chubby characters as nerdy and weak, which is why I mostly avoid doing that with my AU takes of Kyle these days.
dude i hate the chubby kyle headcanon so much like i really hate it and it’s not because i have anything against chubby headcanons in general (i hc stan, butters, clyde, and sometimes bebe as being chubby) it just does NOT make any sense to me based on his actual character. he’s canonically very athletic. and as for the diabetes thing some of these people actually have no idea how diabetes works. he has TYPE 1 DIABETES and people with t1 diabetes are more often than not thin/underweight because they don’t produce insulin which converts glucose to energy and they can’t regulate blood sugar levels so instead their bodies burn fat and muscle rapidly for energy instead. also overweight people with t1 diabetes are at higher risk of developing serious heart issues and double diabetes, so i don’t think sheila would feed and spoil him to that point. little science lesson for you all. but lately i’m realizing i think the real reason i hate it so much because makes him look like and have the vibes of kyle schwartz who’s entire existence serves as an over the top stereotype meant to be a foil to kyle who is not a stereotype. why is chubby kyle is always fucking portrayed with some gayass sweatervest on. if people really desperately want their chubby, nerdy, IBS-having, sweatervest wearing, investment banker jewish boy kyle s. is RIGHT THERE. there’s also a million other jewish characters in media that are canonically portrayed that way so can we please just have this one. kyle s. even refers to kyle as a redneck jock!! which he isn’t of course but obviously it would seem that way to kyle s, who is everything this fandom tries to force kyle to be. god sorry for ranting, i’m lowkey expecting to get flamed in the notes but we ball
…honestly yeah. me as well.
i’m a bit of a biology nerd myself. it’s a special interest of mine. i have family with diabetes (albeit type 2) and my father is a diabetes specialist. so i believe i’m qualified to talk on behalf of the diabetes aspect. not only does it make more sense for kyle to be underweight but it’s also spreading the false narrative that everyone with diabetes is overweight when that isn’t the case. apologies for the upcoming ramble. but t1 diabetes is typically childhood exclusive. it’s diagnosed at a young age for the most part, especially as seen with kyle. type 1 means that no insulin is formed at all. like…none. like anon said. and don’t think i’m regurgitating what they said. i could literally write up a whole ass essay on how to write kyle’s diabetes and i will if you guys want. i think many people think of type 2 diabetes when writing kyle. the difference between type 1 and type 2 is that people with type 2 diabetes can actually make insulin. but it isn’t enough to fully cancel out the sugar levels in the body. type 2 is also more often than not a somewhat curable disease. you can get rid of type 2 in some cases. you can’t get rid of type 1. and yeah. like anon said. i think sheila cares more about kyle’s health than she does about spoiling him with food.
and yeah. i guess the argument that ‘Ph BuT hEs OnLy 7 lBs lIgHtEr tHaN cArTmAn’ but you can really only say that he’s overweight if you know his height too. they look to be the same height. but you don’t know his exact height therefore you can’t make a case for or against it. he could be much taller than cartman and be underweight. or cartman could be shorter. it’s hard to say. but yes. i agree with anon. i hate the chubby kyle headcanon. flame me in the notes. i don’t care. leave anon alone though. shit on my behalf. not theirs.
also yeah . it’s stereotypical as fuck. it’s kinda gross at some point. i agree with anon tho about chubby butters and clyde. maybe stan too because his father insists on feeding him ‘rich kid food’ but yeah. they’re right about kyle s. too. kyle s. is right there. or there’s mort from family guy. go slap your based hdcs on them ig. leave kyle b. out of it.
The problem with South Park specials
So, the trailer for the newest special released yesterday.
Starting with the pandemic special back in 2020, we now have a South Park special each year, with the most hyped ones being the post covid specials which released the same year as the vaccination special.
Well, regardless of the specials being good or not, we need to talk about the elephant in the room now:
Randy Marsh
Okay, I know that’s getting tiresome to constantly blame Randy due to the show going downhill but honestly, I think most of the criticisms regarding this character nowadays are extremely valid, he went from being a fun, memorable secondary character who had a major role in a few episodes per season to an annoying, one dimensional "main character" wannabe that often steal the spotlight from the actual main characters(yes, even Cartman) and had an entire season dedicated to him.
At first, many people(including myself) thought it was a tegridy farms issue mainly because Randy’s entire motivations became tied to his weed business, however, then I started to realize that it’s not a Tegridy farms issue, it’s a Randy issue!
Trey and Matt have said on a couple interviews that they started to relate more to Randy as they’re now older and have kids, I get that but Randy is a character that has became very predictable, even without the tegridy farms stuff, his entire purpose in the show nowadays is that he’s an idiotic manchild who ruins everything for others due to his own selfish desires yet he still ends up saving the day at the end, how could you "relate" to a character like this? And to make matters worse, Randy is now taking over roles from other characters, Cartman has been considerably tuned down while Randy is slowly replacing him as the resident Jerkass, in the not suitable for children special, Randy replaces Liane as the resident crack whore by creating an onlyfans account and in streaming wars, Randy goes Karen mode when this trait is supposed to be Sheila’s, I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts taking over fucking Stephen Stotch’s role as the abusive father too! Also, pretty much every special after post covid puts a heavy emphasis on Randy’s role as a main character and while this next special will have a main plot involving Cartman and the kids, Randy will probably have a subplot that will take up more than half the screen time…who knows at this point?
I noticed that Kyle has surprinsingly barely interacted with Ike in the games and that sucks.
Kenny had an entire DLC dedicated to him saving Karen from hanging out with the vamp kids in tfbw.
Even Stan had a side quest about him and Shelly in SoT.
But Kyle has little to no interactions with his own baby brother in the games, and to make matters worse, Kyle has interacted more with his rarely seen cousin than Ike, who is a character that’s been in the show since in the beginning ):
Why Kyle Broflovski is my favorite character?
• He’s smart.
• He’s compassionate.
• He’s insecure but still stands up to others and his Jewish faith.
• He’s kind.
• He’s brave.
• He’s strong.
• He’s very sweet to his baby brother Ike.
• He is sensitive(not in the mushy sense but still)
• He is outspoken.
• He is a good person with a strong moral code.
• He is a hopeless romantic.
• He is very badass and also adorable.
Kyle is a character that has many flaws like any other character from South Park but he is still one of the nicest characters in the show imo.
It’s absolutely disgusting how this fandom tend to think that Cartman is the nice one while Kyle is the bully.
fanon main 4
South Park fans need to grow the fuck up and learn that Kyle isn’t this angry, evil bastard who abuses sweet little Cartman for being fat!
Cartman IS a horrible person while Kyle is a flawed yet good person who tries his best, please do us a favor to leave people who are having fun ALONE!
And I’m specifically talking about the adult fans because underage fans are still young and most of them tend to outgrow these habits quickly as they get older.
Why do I see so many people hating on chubby Kyle and saying it doesn’t make any sense? They say, “He's fatphobic! He makes fun of Cartman for being fat! He can't be chubby!” But then they go on and headcanon Stan as being chubby, even though there's more proof of Kyle being chubbier when he's a kid than Stan. (I'm aware post-COVID Stan is chubby, but I'm talking about the kids.)
The same people who tell me my headcanon makes zero sense and that I “made it out of nowhere” (which I didn't—even if I did, why does that matter?) say chubby Stan is so canon, and it makes sense. When your excuse is “Kyle makes fun of Cartman for being fat!”—uhm, Stan does too? What the hell. Can you just let me headcanon something without trying to find something wrong with it? If you don’t like my headcanon, leave me alone. It’s my comfort headcanon. It makes me happy.
“Kyle's probably really buff, though, because he plays basketball.” Stan plays baseball? But you use all this stuff to prove me wrong. Let people have fun. And yes, I do have proof for Kyle being chubby. If you can’t let me have fun with a headcanon, leave me alone and block me. Here’s my PERSONAL proof for MYSELF (you dont have to agree, this is shit that makes it more real to me), so you all can stop saying I made it up from nothing.
And no, i dont headcanon Kyle as taller, then that would mean his height would be why he weighs almost as much as Kyle. I hc him as short.
Btw, this isn't hate for the chubby Stan headcanon. I would feel the same way if someone was being an asshole to people for headcanoning that. I'm just pissed about this. Just let people have fun. wtf. i only hate a hc if it's stereotyping, just weird, or some shit like that.
i just think ppl should stop attacking ppl for harmless headcanons in general.
I am aware that being weak and non-athletic is a stereotype, but I don't portray him like that in my AU. I don't make him weak or unable to defend himself. I understand he's strong, but I just don't make him the strongest in the class. I feel like he's the third strongest. He's not weak at all, and he is athletic. I headcanon him as a jock.
"Well, then how is he chubby?" Chubby people can be strong and athletic. I don't have any negative intentions behind this.
I like adding my personal insecurities onto characters.
There's actual evidence to support this headcanon.
If you don't like it, just leave me alone and block me. It's my comfort hc, and I'm really attached to it. Don't harass me for a headcanon.
Also, why do people think that when I say 'twink Kyle,' I mean the regular Canon Kyle? What the fuck… I'm referring to him being sexualized and people making him into A TWINK. LMAO and making him not able to defend himself.
I swear to God, if you don't like it, leave me alone. Don't harass me over a fucking headcanon. That's really weird. I'm 13, just go away. I'm seriously considering leaving Tumblr because you guys can't handle a fucking headcanon. i don't want to be in fucking drama OVER MY HEADCANON.