#ass burgers

[mogwaisonmars]

he insists that all his posters be tilted

[frankensteinposm0]

little drawing i made last night idk them <33

[vbettez]

teen stan (and crimson dawn🤩)

[shutinlear53]

In case you ever needed an explanation for my antics

[stanleys-marsh]

im just beating a dead worse, i know, but i still get so mad every time i think how every single person in Stan's life failed him in 'you're getting old' and 'ass burgers', like they didn't care how much of assholes and negligent they were being to him, and even though i get that it's not easy dealing with someone with depression, it seemed like they gave up so quickly or just thought it was nothing big. (and i still hold a grudge against all of them for that, idgaf lmao)

but story-wise, i like that they go down this path, because yeah, sometimes you can't even trust the people you love the most, you're just by yourself. stan realizing this so young will always break my heart. and despite everything, there is even some kinda of generational trauma when we see that since sharon was unable to break the cycle and move on, stan realized that it wasn't worth trying either. going back to drinking was inevitable, because that way everyone would stop thinking he was """annoying""", and they wouldn't have to worry about his """bad mood""" ruining their joy.

stan seemed to be back to his old self, so he was probably fine, right? 🤷🏻‍♀️ lol

anyways i love this arc with all my heart, and also i want to kill all of those fuckers that failed stan lmao

[cringelordofchaos]

south park is wild cuz sometimes there are really simple messages like "being gay is ok" "parents should pay more attention to their kid's lives than what they watch on TV and shouldn't rely on it as a sole educator for their kids" "people need help sorting out their emotions sometimes instead of being given quick logical solutions" other times it's a deeper or a more personal message like "when you victimize yourself too much you can justify yourself being horrible instead of taking accountability and changing" other times its a more cynical or depressing message like "sometimes everything just becomes shit and you can't control how you perceive the world but others may leave you for it because they'd rather not get sucked into it as well" or "young girls get pressured by society to sexualize themselves and remove their imperfections because of toxic beauty standards imposed on them" and sometimes the episode is about peruvian flute bands being outlawed causing a giant guinea pig apocalypse which can only be stopped by a deadpan fourth grader.

[fennecfiree]

CUTEST

[crab-people-overlord]

"You're Getting Older/Ass Burgers", the Analysis that nobody asked for:

I’ve seen lots of discourse about the ‘’You’re Getting Older’ x ‘Ass Burgers’ episodes (and for good reason - imo they’re some of the best episodes in all of cartoons and even media in general that shows what depression is actually like). Folks seem really eager to pick sides - either defending Stan's struggle with depression and condemning Kyle's abandonment, or justifying Kyle's decision to distance himself from Stan's overwhelming negativity. But here's the thing: this really isn't a situation where we need to choose teams (and picking a team misses the whole fucking point).  I’ve had this written for a while but might as well share it now since I’m feeling a certain way about TikTok’s potential ban in a couple hours lmao.

Imo, the truth is a combination of both. Stan was wrong to expect Kyle to understand the utter depression and dark thoughts he was having and be able to offer real support based on those extremely dark thoughts. And Kyle was 100% wrong to just give up so easily on such a deep friendship despite the struggles and negativity his friend was projecting onto him. And I hate either Stan apologists defending Kyle being a piece of shit for this, and I similarly hate Kyle apologists for defending Kyle walking away so quickly and giving up so readily to their deep friendship even if it was for something he couldn’t understand. Neither side is right.  

The brilliance of these episodes lies in how they capture the messy reality of friendship during mental health struggles. Stan's experiencing something terrifying and incomprehensible - literally seeing and tasting everything as shit, a perfect metaphor for depression. He's a 10-year-old kid dealing with adult emotions he has no framework to understand or express. Of course he lashed out, especially given that it was the ADULTS he was supposed to trust who got him into alcohol in the first place. Of course he was difficult to be around. But telling your best friend "fuck you" and then trying to backpedal? That's not okay, depression or not.

On the flip side, Kyle's position is equally complex. Watching your best friend spiral into darkness while being completely unable to help or understand what they're going through? That's scary as hell, especially for a kid. But the show makes it crystal clear through the executive's pointed commentary that walking away from someone diagnosed with a serious condition - which depression absolutely is - represents a fundamental failure of friendship.

The episode literally tells us word-for-word what the creators want us to get from it:

Later on, the exec says, "Oh yeah, like any friend would say something that severe and then try to take it back' (at Stan trying to downplay his telling 'fuck you' to kyle's face earlier.)

And then they say when Kyle says that Stan's negativity was poison to him, the exec says sarcastically, "Yeah, like any friend would walk out on somebody who was diagnosed with a serious illness!"

The exec here is telling us what the creators want you to get out of the episode - that Stan, despite his scary and new feelings, never should have verbally treated Kyle that way, mental health issues or not. And that Kyle, despite the scary things his friend was feeling and how confusing it was, never should have just walked away from him. Trying to defend either boy’s behavior does nobody any good. THEY BOTH WERE WRONG.

What makes these episodes so powerful is their refusal to offer easy answers. Stan couldn't help falling into depression, but he could have tried harder to not push Kyle away or verbally be so harsh. Kyle couldn't fix Stan's depression, but he could have shown more patience and understanding instead of just bailing when things got tough. The show is saying something profound here: sometimes in life, everyone can be wrong at the same time, and that's what makes these situations so painfully human.

If there is anyone to be upset with in this situation, it’s the adults in Stan’s life. Their failure is staggering and unfortunately realistic. Randy and Sharon’s response to Stan's crisis is almost a textbook example of how not to handle a child's mental health issues (and this is coming from someone who usually respects Sharon). Instead of focusing on their clearly struggling son, they make it all about their own drama. Randy goes on national TV to call his son a ‘freak’ and the reason for the divorce. I love Sharon,and while it is shown she at least does the bare minimum to take Stan to therapy, she often gets way too involved in her showdowns with Randy over her children’s well-being (just look to the episode where Stan gets shot at school  but Sharon caves to Randy’s nonchalant response on this. I know this was more meant to be funny, but genuinely, what about Stan in this situation? What fear did he have to go through when he got shot at school and realized his parents didn’t fucking care enough to immediately go see him? Again, I love Sharon, but her potential of being a good parent is seriously held back from her hold on Randy’s manipulations.)

Stan also goes to the school-counselor as a cry for help, but Mr. Mackey’s response is both satirical and sadly reflective of real-world issues in mental health diagnoses. Rather than actually listening to Stan's symptoms and concerns, he jumps to an incorrect diagnosis based on trendy medical fears (the vaccine-autism conspiracy theory). This represents a broader criticism of how mental health issues in children are often misdiagnosed or dismissed, especially when adults are more concerned with their own theories than actually listening to the child. I think one of the only times I’ve actually teared up when watching SP or ANY SHOW is when Stan asks while finally crying after being so emotionally numb for so long, so vulnerably, “How do you go on when NOTHING makes you happy?” Stan is genuinely asking this question here. He utterly does not understand how anyone can continue to live life while being so miserable. But of course, Mr. Mackey goes to ruin it by touting conspiracy theories. This context actually makes Kyle's failure even more tragic - he was literally Stan's last hope for support, the only person left who Stan thought might have understood, the person he loved and trusted the most, the only person he trusted enough to open up fully to, and the last thing in Stan's eyes to turn to literal shit. But it also somewhat explains Kyle's inability to handle it - he's just a kid himself, and when all the adults in Stan's life failed so spectacularly, it's too fucking much to expect a 10-year-old to know how to handle his friend's depression. The episodes work as a damning indictment of how society handles childhood mental health issues. While Stan and Kyle's friendship breakdown is the emotional core, the real villains are the adults who should have known better and done better, and I won’t accept any Stan or Kyle ‘apologists’ claiming otherwise. It's especially poignant because South Park usually portrays kids as being more sensible than adults - but here, everyone fails, highlighting just how difficult mental health situations can be to navigate without proper support systems.

[gracieblood]

stan in 15x08

[finntwons]

S15 E8 - context in link

[crunchybees]

love all my autizzies

[frankensteinposm0]

STOP HER!! she is this close 🤏 to rewatch YGO & Ass Burgers during exam time just to feel a little better (she won't)

[bootleg-nessie]

I hate when you go to a restaurant and the food tastes bad, like bro if I wanted ass burgers I’d look in a mirror

[ellaeved]

Also he says he has Ass-burgers which is just entirely incorrect nowadays. (I know that’s not the actual name but it’s what I’m using) Usually I am all for self-diagnosis but NOT WHEN YOU’RE A BILLIONAIRE. Like he could SO easily get a diagnosis but he won’t.

Especially because he is a major public figure! You can’t just go around saying you have an out of date self diagnosis, of a term that is no longer even used because of its ties to nazis, and make it a fucking scapegoat for your fascist billionaire bullshit. There’s potential for so much good of having a major wealthy figure support the autism community but this is not it.

He is such a cringey, pathetic, weird little idiot. The people who don't see through him are some of the stupidest dipshits in the history of the world.

[cringelordofchaos]

absolutely despise (pos) it when a south park episode ends on a melancholy note. like youre just supposed to accept the world is sometimes horrible and not everything gets resolved.

[mo-mode]

Okay, but has anyone mentioned yet that Grover is also a vegetarian so when he says “Thanks for the emotional abuse and the cheeseburgers,” he’s like doubling down on Ares’ shittiness?? Ares even mentions how practically all satyrs are vegetarian or vegan when he said all they do is eat tofu. I bet when Grover said that at the end, he was cursing him out so thoroughly on his head, Ares could hear it. “Thanks for the emotional abuse and cheeseburgers you @&!$ing $!@? and you didn’t even get a %£#!ing salad. Oooo you got a big &$%! plate of fries? Whoop-dee &!#@ing doo!! What kind of #&*!ing god are you? A piss poor @#!$ing !%@$ one. Athena’s owl my €@%#.” That’s probably why Ares didn’t bother with the paper towels.