#definitely not mitch conner

[anemoisoap]

the boys

[richierambles]

Cartman's system: headmate list 2.0

Been thinking thoughts idk

This list would be their alters when their body's 15yo (sorry it's long I might make a shorter one later-)

Thanks to @mischieviousmusic and @everythingwasnormalhere for standing my infodumping about this au XD

Littles:

Anne:

6 yo

She/her

Loves playing tea party (main fronter during it)

When it's the other littles playing, she mainly roleplays as the Polly Prissipants doll

Sometimes cofronts when they're at class, but isn't allowed to talk to their classmates

Almost always at cofront when Love's fronting

After they come out, she's closest to Stan and Butters

They're not out to Karen, but Anne's spent time with her too

Whenever she talks to Kenny she asks him how she's doing<3

Ginger in headspace (it felt important to mention this don't ask why)

Finn:

8yo

He/him

Main fronter almost all the time they're playing

Roleplays as most of the other toys when they're playing tea party though

Loves playing cowboys

Frienemies with Artemis, they'll either hate each other or be best friends all the time

After they come out, he's closest to Kenny (but will much rather hang out with his sysmates)

Looks and acts like a Typical White Boy™

Artemis:

5yo

He/they

Introjected from Artemis Clyde Frog (the stuffed animal), but lost almost all his connection to it since the day it died (and exclusively goes by Artemis, hates his other names)

Roleplays himself when playing with the other syskids, never a main fronter while playing

Spent a long while (2-3 years) dormant, only came back after they came out, one day when the system was hanging out with their friends

The gang were all like "wtf who's this idk this alter-" but finally figured it out (mainly Kyle did)

SUPER close to Kyle

Actually whenever Artemis fronts they'll text Kyle first thing no matter what

Also close-ish to Butters

Has dark skin in the innerworld, his iw appearance is human but he always wears a frog hat

Hosts:

Sam:

15yo

he/him

The meaner, stronger Cartman

Is also a protector besides a host

Split from Collins on the Kenny Dies episode

He's the one who used fetuses to built the pizza place because otherwise the guys would've thought he was weak (his thought process is fucking crazy)

One of the few alters who remembers Kenny's deaths

He also knows there's something weird going on in their brain, but has no idea what

Used to cleaning up after everyone else's messes (like acting as if Jenni was Mitch Conners and as if all the Henniffer Lopez thing was just a joke (which backfired so bad...))

After they come out, he hangs out with everyone the same way they always do

Insys, he's trying to get close to 8

^ completely idolatrizes Hitler

Huge on the antisemitism (and general bigotry tbh)

Collins:

14yo

he/him

Split from Sam on the Kenny dies episode

He did want to use the fetuses to save Kenny, and he does consider Kenny his best friend

But he switched out when they got the news Kenny was dead (he was unable to cope with that) and so that's why Sam did what he did

Acts much more like a normal kid than Sam

Actually he's pretty normal for South Park standards

After they come out, he's best friends with Kenny but still friends with the rest of the gang as usual

Not as bad as Sam but definitely not good either

Kyle doesn't hate him as much as he hates Sam (but he'd never say this)

Cartman-sonas (idk how else to call this category):

Irick:

120yo

he/him

Grand Wizard King

Gatekeeper

Fronts mainly while playing SoT (but not every time they do)

Definitely their most responsible alter

^ the others often ask him for advice and stuff

Mildly connected to source

The first time he fronted it was during a SoT game, he found all of it normal (his memories are of the SoT universe) but when they stopped playing he was so weirded out by everything since he's used to a fantasy world

"Cartman stop rping we finished 2 hours ago" "who trapped those guys inside that box 😰" (they were watching TV 💀)

Now (after they came out) they don't play SoT as much, so he only takes full control on special occasions or when Kenny is on a Princess shift (otherkin Kenny 💯)

Only actually close to Kenny because of that, doesn't talk much to anyone else

Grim:

18yo

it/raccoon neos/he

The Coon

Physical protector

Formed because of Cartman's hero persona, but that was long before they started going out as The Coon (they made the first concept for that sona when they were around 4-5yo)

But one day it fronted and decided why not go out fight crime

The others didn't know about this at first

They just knew they had a weird fixation on that "Coon" hero (which, they didn't know where they saw him either but wtv)

But one day Sam decided to go out as Coon (in a rp manner) and found he looked exactly like him

Grim fronted in the middle of it and yk Coon'd for a bit

And Sam did remember that time

So what made more sense is that he'd been The Coon since the beginning

(which wasn't exactly a lie-)

After their syscovery, they assumed Grim formed after they started going out as The Coon

Grim has never confirmed nor denied this

Every single time Kenny's in his Mysterion shift fur gets yeeted to front just so they can argue for a while 💀

Talks to pretty much all the gang but mainly Mysterion'd Kenny

Gets called a furry 24/7 by both his headmates and Kenny (and the rest of the gang sometimes, not as much tho). He fucking hates it.

Adrian:

16yo

he/him

Sexual protector

Metrosexual Cartman

But he's a full-on homosexual

Cartman's metrosexual phase lasted longer than anyone else's because "it's not a phase mom it's who I am 🙄💅"

It was a phase for everyone but Adrian

He's still in that phase

Has hooked up with half the system and even a couple guys out of it

Nothing serious though

Before they came out he respected Cartman's image and didn't flirt with their friends, but after they did there's not a conversation in which he's not telling them the gayest most explicit shit ever

The gang are between confidence boost and absolute utter cringe fucking kill me pls

Theodore:

17yo

he/him

Persecutor (misguided protector) + academic

Formed during Tsst, he's the nice submissive version of Cartman

Would let basically anyone boss him around

Good intentions all the time

Won't do anything bad on purpose

All his submissiveness has gotten them in trouble though

To the point the others try to avoid him fronting as much as they can

He switched in when they were going to kill Liane though, that's good

Goes exclusively by Theodore, some people have tried to call him Theo but he hates that

After they come out, the gang are kinda uncomfortable with him, but Butters warms up to him eventually

(the reason why they're uncomfortable is because Theodore has such a Not Cartman way to act, and also because he's kinda really fucking lame)

(also a bit because Sam has told them all about the times Theodore has messed up)

Sunny/Love

Ageless

love-related neos

Cupid Me

Sexual protector

Hypersexual

When heart's at front, heart'll flirt with Kyle so much it's insane

Is it because fluff's in love with him? Is it because fluff ships kyman? Is it because of a secret third reason? Who knows

Btw everyone else (/sys) was so confused about it at first, like, "...wdym I was acting weird yesterday? I was flirting with you?? And calling you Ky-boo??? Good one dude but quit the bullshit I never did that"

Then when they had the syscovery nobody associated that with some alter doing it

Until a few months after they came out Kyle connected the dots and almost instantly told Sam (who was so pissed off at Sunny 😭)

Love's mostly close to the girls (Nichole, Bebe, even Wendy), but a lot closer to Collins and Anne

Also 💘's never stopped flirting with Kyle, and will never stop (slay)

Introjects:

Eight/8/H:

56yo

he/him

Hitler factive, really connected to source

Protector + Prosecutor

Formed soon after they learnt about Hitler's existence

Fronts at times in which they have to act commanding, such as The Passion Of The Jew or Ginger Kids

Also fronted during some of Tsst, and was who planned (and tried) to kill Liane

After they came out, he didn't front much in front of their friends (he found them lame)

But one day something Bad happened when they woke up and he got triggered to front, so he had to go to school

When the gang noticed he was acting different, they asked who he was

Well, Kyle did, but Eight refused to answer

Stan asked again and H told them his name was Adolf Hitler

Kyle refused to even look at him the rest of that day (and rightfully so)

When someone else switched in, Kyle told them that if 8 didn't at least change his name he'd never talk to any of them ever again, so that's why he goes by Eight/8/H (that was the most he'd accept to change it)

When he's at front (not often) Kyle has to resist the urge to beat him up (he doesn't wanna hurt some of the others), but to find them both in the same room is practically imposible

Jenni:

25yo

she/her

Jenniffer Lopez factive

Talks in spanish sometimes, it's horribly incorrect but she doesn't care

She's the one who does most of the drag

Also the other one (besides Adrian) who hooks up with random guys

She's mostly at cofront rather than full front (talking with the hand because it "looks less weird"), but she's been at full front sometimes too :3

Fucking hates Mitch

After they come out, she hangs out with Bebe sometimes (but not really too often, she'll much rather go with celebrities)

Mitch Conner:

31yo

they/he

Sam first made him up so he could "get rid of" Jenni without looking too insane

But then they actually split

Jenni and Mitch fucking hate each other, Jenni because he steals her identity and Mitch because he thinks she's annoying

Whenever they front they'll find out everything they can about the other alters (and everyone in general) just so they can get stuff from them later

Kyle is so annoyed by his existence for some reason

Other (idk where else to put her soo):

Mae:

21yo

she/her

Persecutor

Originally split when they were a little kid (3-5), to take care of them when Liane didn't (she was kinda neglectful back then)

Also to have them grow up in a hopefully healthier environment

But she started obsessing over growing up and maturing to the point she actually made them unsafe

Such as in 1%, when she mutilated their stuffed animals and almost killed them (by burning down their house) in the process

Now she almost never fronts, and only Irick knows where she is and is allowed to talk to her

[stingingfish420]

STUPID ASS FUCKING SOUTH PARK THEORY!!!

South park meth pipeline -The first time it is hinted at is in S2 E17 when mr tweek does not want other more successful coffee shops in town (because hes drugging the customers) and in S15 E14 we can see that kennys parents are making meth in their backyard (they are the first part of the pipeline) we can comfirm it is being made not for them because in S7 E6 When they walk into the strip club the italian guy from tfbw say "and we will have the Mccormicks make the meth" We know this guy has a lot of power because he is running a whole strip club and he is working on a project to drug the whole town in tfbw. And in the stick of truth we get "coffee beans" from meth dealers which later goes into tweeks and the customers. We know the cumstomers are drugged because in tfbw they say stuff like "aw man, this coffee is really gettin' me buzzed". Another thing is that we know the meth dealers arent just some idiots because they too are working on the plan to drug the whole town because when we fight them in tfbw they often talk about getting the cat pee to "boss" (Mitch conner who is technically working with the Italians) So it would make sense for te meth dealers and the italians to work together on the same projects. (cat pee and meth) However I do not think the police are in on the meth pipeline because again in S15 E14 The police are ARRESTING kennys parents for making meth and i dont think they were lying and actually were on the Mccormicks side because if they were i think they would also fake arrest the meth dealers working on the cat pee project (which they are in on) It is my theory that the meth goes from the Mccormicks to the meth dealers who give it to the meth dealers who gives it to the Tweaks who deals it to the customers which the italians are all organising.

i made this like. 2 years ago and got too scared to post it anywhere and i know that i updated it a while back to due the creators doing some shit?? idfk. but it was on an old account that i cant access so if you can nitpik at this im assuming thats the stuff i forgot about man. its. been forever since i was like. disgustingly obsessed witb south park. definitely please read. 2022 me probably took like 10 minutes to write this 🙏

ALSO. urm this theory has made me come up with so many fuckin cool concepts when it comes to tweek and kenny. cause. no one else sees it like i do ong. both their characters are so well done and im tired of pretending theyre not.

[alltheangstmygifttoyou]

Honestly I can think of so many scenarios for my OCs but out of no where Camille and her orginal south park fanfiction popped in my head and I just-

On one hand to show the badass that Camille is and how thoroughly she manipulates the heros that this is Cartman or someone like Mitch Conner saying this to Camille while she presents as regular self, not knowing they're talking to the main villain of the town Claret.

But on the other hand. Part of Camille/Claret's story is her struggle with her own humanity as part of her starts trying to heal and connect with other people again by making friends and genuine positive relationships with others (Kenny) while the other half is full of rage, hate, and spite and sees that kind of coping (the healthy kind) as weak, something else to be destroyed by her with passion.

But its because she has this moral battle in the first place that it really makes sense for Claret to tell The Coon this, since he is such a generally worse person who doesn't give a shit about other people. Like, Claret is a villain because of emotional pain and trauma, lashing out on others, but also she has over arching goals in her terrorism that she thinks will improve society. Cartman is The Coon because he wants positive attention. And when he doesn't get it he goes on a mass murder spree with cuthulu. They are not the same.

Edit 7/2/24: found this in my drafts and its solid why did I leave it in here??? I miss Camille's fanfic. Id definitely want to rewrite everything though lol.

“if you kill me, you’ll be just as bad as me.” The villain says, not knowing that the “hero” is so, so much worse than them.

[ao3feed-creek]

The Consort of Chaos

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2kKl3XK

by QueenofOblivion

What if instead of joining the forces of Coon and Friends or even the Freedom Pals, the New Kid allied himself with Professor Chaos. It’s not that the Coon thinks that he’s totally useless or Doctor Timothy refuses to recruit the New Kid… it’s just that… The Merciful Paladin was his first friend and so what if Professor Chaos is evil? He’s still cute - Oh, uh, interesting. He’s still interesting. Yeah. That’s what he meant.

"You got any name for yourself, New Kid?”

“Uh, what? Consort? No, no, It’s not weird or anything but any reason why?”

“.....”

“Hmmm… yeah… yeah! I like the sound of that, New Kid! Do-gooders beware, for Professor Chaos no longer stands alone in his quest for total domination of Earth! Forever faithful at his side is the Consort of Chaos; the silent dragon, the hero crusher! I think this is the beginning of a beautiful partnership, New Kid.”

Great. That’s taken care of. Now how does he make Butters realized that his definition of ‘partnership’ is different from him?

Words: 2839, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: South Park

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: Gen, M/M

Characters: New Kid | Douchebag, Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovski, Stan Marsh, Kenny McCormick, Butters Stotch, Craig Tucker, Tweek Tweak, Token Black, Clyde Donovan, Jimmy Valmer, Timmy Burch, Scott Malkinson, Wendy Testaburger, New Kid | Douchebag's Dad, New Kid | Douchebag's Mom, Mitch Conner

Relationships: New Kid | Douchebag/Butters Stotch, Craig Tucker/Tweek Tweak

Additional Tags: Friends to Lovers, Awkward Crush, The New Kid thinks that Butters is freakin' PRECIOUS, Crack? This author has no idea, Good? Evil? It don't matter to the New Kid, He just wants to be with Butters, Butters is oblivious as heck, Poking at the fourth wall, So many inspirations for the New Kid, A hint of Kyman could be down in later chapters, The New Kid is bad at confessing

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2kKl3XK

[365runesoftheamalgamations]

hello and how are you?

Honestly this seems so cool and amazing, we are definitely jumping in on this! We hope everyone has fun with this event! c:

Definitely will have to cut down on our OC's, we honestly have SO MANY CHARACTERS, we need to banish some of them or something. (≧∇≦)/

But let's focus on our Main WIPs, shall we?

Grayland's Shadow: Grayland Shade Anderson | The Observer Mitch | Molly Conners

The Plague Begins With Me: Zero | Damien | Jordan | Alex | Mia Smith

Marathon Runners: Jeremiah Lucian Clarinborne | Arcahollow Claringborne | Ada "Arcahollow" | Oscar Bradley Kadwell | Arlow Seth Rayburn

Mitch's Journals: The First | Ema | Ash | Cain | Abel | Ande | Mitch

The Vagabond Child: The Man | The Child

Thank you in advance! c:

One-Time OC Ask Event Official Announcement

Hello, everyone!

I am pleased to announce that I have come with yet another event. :) this one is open to all and every writer. You do not have to follow my blog.

But before I get into the meat of explaining the event, I wish to give a shoutout to @the-writers-bookshelf, who runs a fabulous ask event EVERY OTHER Friday! This week is one such week. :) Fab Friday is a marvelous event where she accepts asks to let you gush about what you've been working on as a writer.

I have personally submitted for this event many times. One of my favorite parts of any week is when it's Fab Friday and getting her excited responses. She is so heartfelt and enthusiastic and will make you feel wonderful about your writing, so if you need a place to gush and feel appreciated, or if you just want to tell someone about a project you're working on, consider submitted for Fab Friday tomorrow, 9/2/22, and every other week thereafter.

Alright, so now to my one-time event!

This is inspired by my current really big project I've been working on. It has a huuuuge cast (20+ MCs, plus whatever minor characters there end up being).

So, the event is this: you reblog this post with a list of all of your characters and I pick a favorite name and ask that character directly, as though I'm interviewing them, a question. Heck, I might even do whole interviews, who knows?

Then you'll respond as though you are whatever character I said. It helps not only to get to know your characters, but your writing style and their voices. :)

In order to participate you have to post a list of your characters in a reblog of this post. You also have to have asks turned on.

If you don't know how to turn on asks, go to your settings for your specific blog you want to reblog this post to and go down toward the bottom. It'll ask if you want to accept asks and you need to make sure it's ticked to the right. :)

If you're on mobile, the option is in the little gear at the top right of your profile, scroll to the bottom and tick "let people ask questions" to the right.

I will only be accepting submissions/entries for this event the rest of tonight and all of tomorrow. Once Saturday (9/3) hits in my timezone, I'll stop accepting asks. I live in Pacific Time in America. :)

Have fun, guys, and if you want to ask people questions too that submit, you are welcome to!!

My list, in case you want to ask questions back (this list is not exhaustive): Jasmine, Kyle, Lucille, Phyllis, Elliott, Marcus, Belinda, Ikuisuus, Victoria, Maxie, Wahr, Betruger, Vanessa and Luka. :)

[empress-of-snark]

Zoo Thoughts - “The Barrier”

AKA: “Your Fault” from Into the Woods, except 40 minutes long.

Seriously, I’ve had enough of the blame game. I hate how it’s become Jackson vs. Jamie at this point and everyone else has to pick sides. There’s also a Civil War reference here somewhere…

At first I thought Mitch’s decision to redirect all the power to the St. Louis beacon was stupid and irrational, but then Jackson started yelling at him and since I’ve had enough of Jackson yelling at people, I rushed to Mitch’s defense. Because it really was the smartest decision. The beacons (which look just like Pokemon Go gyms, btw) were placed in heavily-populated areas for maximum destruction and, as far as we know, no other country had a stronghold like the barrier that could’ve withstood that kind of attack. So really, this was probably their best option.

Now, whether or not it was smart to send Clementine away considering what happened to her/the baby/Logan…. well, that’s another story.

While we’re on the topic—Jackson, you said (and I quote): “I tried more than anyone to put Abigail down!” The lie detector determined that this was a LIE. Literally, you tried to save Abigail’s life on multiple occasions and locked Jamie up in her own damn plane for trying to kill her (for which you never apologized or even appeared to regret), so don’t you come into my house and say that you really tried to stop her because you didn’t.

Also, if you had told me a year ago that I would actually be genuinely sad to see Logan die??? I would’ve been offended. But here we are. Here we all are. R.I.P., Logan. In the end, you weren’t as much of a jerk as you could’ve been. (Look, I’m not saying Clem should name the baby after him since he died protecting them, I’m just saying she should at least consider it.)

Flashing back several episodes here for a slightly outdated point: I honestly don’t blame Jamie for accepting Logan’s help in raising Clementine, if only just for a few years. Yes, at the time I didn’t like him and didn’t want him anywhere near those girls, but from what it sounds like, Jamie didn’t have anyone else. And considering she was still suffering from PTSD, trying to raise the child of the man she loved (who just died), why wouldn’t she take all the help she can get??

And I like Uncle!Logan bonding with Clementine, okay? Sue me.

Anyway, back to the actual episode, sorry.

Speaking of Jamie, what did she even like… do? In this episode, I mean? Did she serve any purpose whatsoever? Like, I appreciate the support she was giving Mitch and all, but literally I don’t think she contributed to the plot at all aside from being a hand for him to hold, which is super annoying, tbh.

But I did like the support! I loved that long pause after she left before she just turned right around and was like “Actually?? I need to stay here and make sure you don’t do something stupid again!!” and Mitch is just like “Yeah, good call.”

Loved the Celebratory Hug, but…. I felt like the kiss might’ve been a little out-of-place. Don’t get me wrong, I always love seeing the OTP kiss! But, after all that happened in the last few episodes, it felt like they were just sweeping it all under the rug and pretending like everything’s fine when it’s really not. I appreciate that they’re putting aside their relationship problems to focus on saving the world and all, but I think they need to have some serious talks before jumping back into a relationship rn.

At least they’re both alive! And together! That’s rare for a season finale!

And even though I’m still royally pissed off at Jackson, I guess I’m also glad he ain’t dead.

(I know it’s a bit late to complain about this, but I really wish they had actually tried to make anyone look ten years older this season. Jamie looks a bit older with the haircut, and I understand Mitch possibly not aging much due to the tank, but Jackson still looks like 30 and definitely not old enough to be Sam/Conner’s father. They could’ve at least used a little makeup to age him.)

Things I Expected to See in this Episode but Didn’t:

   -Literally anything to do with the biodrive that’s still in Mitch’s brain. Is that whole death vs amnesia ultimatum ever gonna make a reappearance??

   -An explanation as to how Abigail was dead for an entire episode but then suddenly wasn’t anymore.

   -A freaking name for the baby, good lord, this is getting ridiculous.

   -Mitch or Jamie actually verbally admitting that they love each other (but again, they’ve still got to talk some things through so maybe it’s too soon for that).

   -ISAAC. I’m really sad that we haven’t gotten to see him in like four episodes. I know he’s okay, but I want to see his sunshine-y face!

Anyway, good finale overall!! Great (if slightly overdramatic) cliffhanger!

#RenewZoo

[loremonster]

I was told at a convention that one type of ship is the rivalry ship. What do you think of Dee and Cartman as a rivalry ship? Or Cartman and Kyle?

Yes to both. Kyle and Cartman is the rivalry to end all rivalries-- I interpret Cartman’s relationship with Kyle as a constant pursuit of being acknowledged as superior to Kyle. Why is a harder to define thing, again because Cartman is a caricature of the sociopathic child willing to do anything to get his way on a show that’s been running for more than twenty years. Defining why he does anything is difficult when the majority of his actions are to be so extreme that they qualify as so horrifying it’s funny. 

My definition to his behavior is that Cartman truly and honestly feels that Kyle is his best friend, but he is a true sociopath and is too emotionally stunted to express it in any way other than constant antagonism. Cartman has learned that the more vulgar and extreme he is, the more attention he gets, and that attention is how he defines who his friends are, even if that attention is overwhelmingly negative. It makes him almost tragic, if he were not so aware and intentional in his abuse. He can affect the performance of a human connection, he can act like a decent human being, but chooses not to because it doesn’t suit him, and it doesn’t put him at the center of attention, which he desperately needs. 

Kyle’s role in this relationship is utterly reactionary, and this relationship is both toxic and abusive... and like many toxic and abusive relationships, they remain on their paradigm because according to Kyle, Cartman being Cartman is normal. Kyle has also seen what happens to people who aren’t within Cartman’s group; namely that he fucking using an Elder God to wipe them off the map, or feeding them chili made out of their parents. There is a bubble of ‘in’ and ‘out’, and while ‘in’ sucks, Kyle has judged that ‘out’ is a far more dangerous place to be.... so he remains, despite abuse, despite insults, despite Cartman potentially sabotaging every single new good thing that ever happens in his life for the foreseeable future. 

Cartman’s desires from this relationship is Kyle’s surrender, mainly because he knows he will never have it. He can’t. If he got it, the game would be over, and thus the friendship. 

And on that depressing note, let’s talk about Cartman and Dee. 

Dee’s definition within Cartman’s mind, even years later, is The New Kid. An unknown element that came in from the outside and very quickly became a factor to games he constructed wherein he was supposed to be the core player. He, the Grand Wizard, facing off against the Jew Elf King, and here is this fucking new person he doesn’t know, who then sides against him [for my New Kid] and becomes the hero. We move on to playing Superheroes instead, where again Cartman is supposed to be the central figure that holds control over everything, and once again, here’s this fucking new kid who manages to undo all his hard work and forcing him to once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. 

Cartman understands that Dee is powerful, but something else we see in canon is Cartman’s desire to use Dee. We see this from the very beginning of the games, a running theme of Dee being Cartman’s subordinate, serving his agenda, a warrior under his command in Stick of Truth, part of his team in TFBW, the reason why Mitch Conner was able to get elected, only to grow past the planned role and derail his plans. 

Cartman is frustrated by Dee. And yet? Knows that Dee is still human, and therefor useful. He knows Dee still has strings that can be pulled on, so Dee is allowed in the group for as long as Cartman finds Dee possibly useful. 

Holy shit that was a lot more than I planned to write on this subject. 

[samtheflamingomain]

the fractured but decent

I just finished the new South Park game, The Fractured But Whole, so naturally, I want to pick apart every detail and review it in disgusting depth.

It might seem unfair to compare it to Stick of Truth, but I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of that.

Obviously, I'm a huge SP fanboy, and had been following the release of the game months beforehand. I watched an interview with Matt and Trey, and they gave a lot of insight into the game, how it would be different from SoT, and how it would be similar. That too will play into my analysis.

Obviously, spoilers ahead.

Let's divide this up for clarity. I'll go through general gameplay, plot, side quests and collectibles, mechanics/UI, and general thoughts, in that order.

Gameplay is a vague term so let's subdivide that: combat, powers, effects and exploration.

Combat is decent. I prefer the system set up in SoT, but the new system has its pros. I like the grid, moving around, and how your stats effect where you can move on the battleground. For example, Clyde has such a high "movement" stat that he can move almost anywhere on the grid.

But it can also get frustrating and confusing. Sometimes there's so many players on the board that moving becomes impossible. Sometimes you're stuck with combat buddies that can't attack, and sometimes it's unclear as to what the board will look like after your turn. For example, knockbacks and moves that change your location aren't always obvious as to how they’ll play out.

Finally, "inspection mode". It's meant to be used to get details on your friends and foes in battle, like their class, their health, and, most confusingly, their status effects and durations thereof. I never used it, and I think it just served to make combat more confusing.

Powers, I'll admit, kinda suck. Once you reach a point in the game where, for some back-assward reason, you unlock ALL POSSIBLE POWERS, it becomes a game of making a goddamn spreadsheet to weigh the pros and cons of more than 15 powers to decide which 4 you can have active in combat. Now, they give us a bit of help by allowing you to switch powers and buddies before a battle, but taking 20 minutes to pick your best powers beforehand is tedious, but also, unfortunately, necessary.

Also, they aren't very interesting or varied. Most powers involve a punch or hit, but there's like 8 of them that are basically the same. A lot don't make sense for their class, while others are completely useless. Finally, fuck all the healing powers. If you've got Kyle on your team, he's 50% a healer, so you have 2 (very weak) moves to use to deal damage. The healing items are much more effective, at least in my opinion.

Effects. What I mean by that is "Might", stats, and "artifacts". This is a lot of convoluted spreadsheet math again. There's hundreds of items that you can stick in your stats to improve your "Might". This is very hard to explain and even harder to balance.

Say you have six slots. There's more than 100 things that can go in those slots. Some of them improve your health stat, but eliminate your ability to move. Some of them downgrade your buddies' health while increasing your damage dealt. There's a total of (I think) 12 stats that can be affected by these "artifacts". Each one is assigned a number, and adding up all these numbers gives you your "Might" - which I still don't understand what, if anything, this means.

Exploration. Very little has changed since SoT in this department except there's fewer fast-travel locations, a slightly bigger map, and more (and better) puzzles throughout the world. One of my gripes would be the uselessness of many locations - a good 50% of the buildings or locations are only relevant once, and there's no need to revisit them later. (Canada, Mephesto's, the strip club, the Italian restaurant, City Wok, and U-Stor-It just to name a few).

But like I said, the puzzles are quite good, and actually challenging at times. Sometimes it involves spotting something a buddy can knock over, or noticing a little pinwheel that can get you on top of buildings. With the addition of the fart powers (reverse, pause, summon self and shift night/day), these puzzles are more complex and often have multiple steps involved.

Alright, onto the plot. I think it's much better than SoT. It starts out similar, with one faction of kids against the other, then brought together to fight a bigger foe. But they did this in a better, funnier, and ultimately more effective way, in my opinion.

For example, what seems like a silly side-quest leads to Stan (from the other faction) helping your faction, which then leads to both groups joining once they discover something bigger going on.

Now, this "bigger thing" is pretty confusing, especially at first. There's a lot of parts that don't seem to match up. The mayor is apparently failing the city, the cops are working for a racist slime monster (literally), and the sixth-graders are hoarding cats. It eventually comes together: the town is falling apart due to the main foe putting cat urine into the city's drugs and alcohol in order to cause chaos to usurp the mayor's seat. A lot of random groups get involved, like the sixth graders and Butters, to try and capitalize on the situation.

Which brings me to the second half of the game, where, in my opinion, a lot of comedic gold is made without it relying too much on nostalgia and throwbacks to the show. Mitch Conner, the main bad guy, is a joke I've never found particularly funny in the show, but in the game, it was easily one of the smartest moves they made.

"Mitch" (Cartman's hand puppet) kidnaps your parents in order to get you to help him win the mayoral race. As soon as this is revealed, all the characters react as they should: by blaming Cartman. No matter how much he insists "Mitch" is acting on his own, independent of himself, everyone turns on Cartman and he goes into hiding.

This, to me, is a much better way of bringing the plot together than in SoT, where the main villain's (Clyde’s) motivation is not very clear or believable. When we see "Mitch's" motivation for becoming mayor (to make every day Christmas), it's so absurd and Cartman-like that it works incredibly well.

And probably the funniest part of the game, right at the end, is when suddenly Mitch Conner takes over Kyle's hand. It makes no sense, but after the entire problem being blamed on Cartman, it takes a hilarious turn, suggesting that maybe Cartman really wasn't really behind everything after all.

And finally, the last battle. There's a bit of bullshit about going forward and back in time, but it ultimately leads to a hilarious battle where the characters fight themselves from the past - when they were still "playing" Stick of Truth. SuperCraig fights Thief Craig, Human Kite Kyle fights High Jew Elf Kyle and et cetera. There was also a great throwaway line from Wendy: "Hey, now I finally get to play Stick of Truth!"

Onto side quests and collectibles. I've stuck these together because they're pretty much the same. There's only maybe 8 side quests, and almost all of them are just "collect X and return to character Y". There's a lot to be desired in that department, in my opinion, but there is some good stuff in the "filling out your character sheet" plotline. Like the farting-flying-unicorn minigame where you help Kanye West's mother reach heaven so you can meet Jesus and choose your religion. Or when you have to learn about microagressions from PC Principal to choose your race.

As for the collectibles themselves, they're a bit much. Collect Yaoi, toilets, artifacts, costumes, Memberberries, Coonstagram followers, character sheets, cats. But that's up to you to care which achievements you pursue.

Now, mechanics and UI. This is the one category I will unapologetically shit on till the cows come home, with the exception of the phone menu, which is actually a very smart way to organize the massive amount of UI in place.

The artifact menu is a mess. It's confusing and frustrating. Same with the powers menu. Very hard to navigate intelligently. Props to the crafting menu, which is rather straightforward. But outside of the phone, the simple act of pulling up the map, seeing your quests and seeing your progress on those quests is very much lacking.

It gets even worse when we get into combat UI. When it's your turn, you get to choose between your three powers and healing items. It's actually somewhat trial-and-error when you go for an attack. Which power is most effective, and from which position on the board? It's a good thing it's turn-based and not timed, because I often found myself spending a good minute or two testing out every possible move.

And I'd be amiss if I didn't talk buddies. There's waaaay too many, and it's pretty easy to see the best ones and never change them: Wendy, Tweek, Cartman and Clyde were my team for the entire game, because nearly all the others have massive, gaping flaws in their combat abilities. For example, Stan only has two good moves, and they're very situation-dependent. They only help if he's in a specific spot and the enemies are lined up perfectly. He, along with Kyle, Kenny and Jimmy, are pretty useless.

Finally, general thoughts. Obviously, no matter my gripes, it's a great game. It's got enough from the last game and enough from the show to make it work. I found it much funnier than the last game, but, and here's one of my biggest problems with it: it was very short.

This brings me back to when I watched Matt and Trey talk about the game pre-release. They specifically said that this game would be longer. It only took me 20 hours to finish the main plotline AND all the side quests and collectibles. The last game took me nearly 30 hours just to finish the main quest. 

Also, they said the combat would be harder. It’s definitely more confusing and convoluted, but overall, it was pretty damn easy, (and I played on the hardest setting), and I only died maybe three times.

Two of the three fart powers (summon self and switch night/day) are pretty useless; I would've liked more interesting uses for these powers, or, even better, different ones. Reverse time and pause time have great applications in nearly every aspect of gameplay, whereas the other two only get used once or twice in very specific circumstances.

Again, I only gripe because I love the show and the games; I wouldn't put this much thought into it if I didn't. There was a lot that I feel like they missed out on, but there was definitely a lot that they got right. Every building has something to offer, unlike SoT, and there's a lot more in the way of puzzles, characters and overall comedy.

I do hope there'll be another game, but I don't know how that would really happen. If they're going to stick to the RPG genre, well, the kids have only ever played Game of Thrones and superheroes in the show. I don't know that there's another way to do this sort of game.

But hey, as we all know, Matt and Trey are full of surprises.

Stay Greater.

[puto-el-que-lo--lea]

i mean, by definition an antithesis is a direct opposite of someone or something, which cartman and kyle appear to be due to having extreme opposite morals, but upon inspection their similarities are what sparks conflict in their dynamic more so than their differences.

(beware of spoilers for the end of TFBW)

the peak example of this is when in TFBW kyle spends nearly all game on the side of freedom pals after cartman starts antagonizing them, but at the last boss fight he himself ends up pretending to also be mitch conner and fight against his friends just to get cartman to admit that he is also lying .of course neither of them backs down and you the player have to beat both their asses. the whole scene is fucking wild for kyle's character and im surprised it's never brought up to discussion bc it literally proves the point that to kyle its more important to prove cartman wrong than to do the right thing when it comes to their fights, and that circles back to what i said abt them not being the antithesis to each other.

but regardless i agree with the rest.

and sorry this is getting long but since it was brought up, i want to clarify that about my Butters tag i was merely mentioning his character archetype/role in the show, not oversimplifying him. i never meant to imply he was honest about his good intentions, which is why i wrote just plain intentions.

whether they're good or bad, he has been consistently honest about them and values that honesty in others, but he also does get a lot of shit even when he's being a good person, we just most recently saw that in Credigree Weed St. Patrick's Special, so i still stand by that

the fandom can be pretty torn on kyle as a character and i’ve come to realize it’s because some people see him as someone who genuinely has passion for the causes he gets behind and wants to do good things for people, and others think he’s insincere and solely wants to make himself seem like a good person or win fights with cartman. i’m the former, but honestly, as i’ve thought about it more i can sort of understand why some people think the latter too? i have arguments about why i think what i do but it’s one of those things i don’t think you can definitively prove either way you know

[ao3feed-kyman]

Totally Legit

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2AcL1Nw

by GayMemeHell

*SPOILERS TO THE FRACTURED BUT WHOLE VIDEO GAME*

  During the scene where both Cartman and Kyle are being Mitch Connor, Cartman has an idea to convince everyone that he's definitely not lying...

Words: 450, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: South Park, South Park The Fractured but Whole (Game)

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: M/M

Characters: Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, Mitch Conner

Relationships: Kyman, Kyle Broflovski/Eric Cartman

Additional Tags: Kissing, Cartman Being Cartman, random drabble, spoilers?

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2AcL1Nw

[collectorscorner]

CC Blogger - New Arrivals @ Collectors Corner : Wednesday 6/17/20

CC Blogger - New Arrivals @ Collectors Corner : Wednesday 6/17/20 Collectors Corner Parkville - HQ : IN STORE SHOPPING Resumed on Friday May 22nd with Strong Safety Measures in Place (Hand Sanitizing Stations, Masks Required for All, Social Distancing Required, Limited Capacity, CURBSIDE Pick Up Optional) - According to Baltimore County Guidelines. 1-410-668-3353. CC Parkville - NEW 2020 STORE HOURS as of JUNE Sunday 12-6, Mon-Tues 12-7, Wed 9-8, Thurs 11-7, Friday & Saturday 11-8 Collectors Corner - Bel Air Outpost Location : IN STORE SHOPPING Resumed on Friday May 15th with Strong Safety Measures in Place (Hand Sanitizing Stations, Masks Required for All, Social Distancing Required, Limited Capacity, CURBSIDE Pick Up Optional) - According to Harford County Guidelines. 1-410-838-1777. CC Bel Air -NEW 2020 STORE HOURS as of JUNE Sunday 11-5, Monday/Tuesday - Closed, Wednesday 11-8, Thursday 11-7, Friday/Saturday 11-8 Complete list of items shipping to the stores, some items may be limited in availability. If you see anything you want to purchase on the list and are not a subscription member at Collectors Corner, just contact us and let us know if you want an item held at the stores. email - collectorscornermd@comcast.net Subscription Membership & Free Membership Card : Collectors Corner's No Obligation (FREE) Membership Card or FREE (In Store) & ONLINE Subscription Membership saves you 10% Off ALL Bagged & Boarded Comic Book Back Issues, Board Games, Graphic Novels, Manga & Special Orders. Plus Never miss a comic again! Computerized and organized + you can add and cancel titles on your subscription list from home on your own time, or in the store when you pick up your comics at : Maryland's Coolest Stores! Since 2001. 2 Super Cool & Convenient Locations - CC PARKVILLE - HEADQUARTERS 7911 Harford Rd Parkville, MD 21234 & CC BEL AIR - OUTPOST 17 N. Main St. Bel Air, MD 21014 www.collectorscornermd.com PUBLISHER/TITLE/PRICE AFTERSHOCK COMICS You Are Obsolete TP, $16.99 ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS B & V Friends Jumbo Comics Digest #280, $7.99 Vampironica New Blood #4 (Of 4)(Cover A Audrey Mok), $3.99 Vampironica New Blood #4 (Of 4)(Cover B Vic Malhotra), $3.99 Vampironica New Blood #4 (Of 4)(Cover C Lisa Sterle), $3.99 AWA STUDIOS Hotell #2 (Of 4), $3.99 Resistance #2 (Of 6), $3.99 BOOM! STUDIOS Bill And Ted Trade Paperback Gift Box Set, $39.99 Buffy The Vampire Slayer Volume 3 TP, $14.99 Firefly #16 (Cover A Marc Aspinall), $3.99 Firefly #16 (Cover B George Kambadais), $3.99 Firefly #16 (Cover C Daniel Warren Johnson), AR Lumberjanes Campfire Songs TP, $14.99 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #5 (Of 5)(Cover A Dan Mora), $3.99 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #5 (Of 5)(Cover B Goni Montes Leonardo Black Helmet Variant), $3.99 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #5 (Of 5)(Cover C Goni Montes Raphael Black Helmet Variant), $3.99 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #5 (Of 5)(Cover D Goni Montes Michaelangelo Black Helmet Variant), $3.99 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #5 (Of 5)(Cover E Goni Montes Donatello Black Helmet Variant), $3.99 Steven Universe Volume 5 Crystal Clean GN, $14.99 Wynd #1 (Cover A Michael Dialynas), $4.99 Wynd #1 (Cover B Dan Mora), AR Wynd #1 (Cover C Peach Momoko), AR Wynd #1 (Cover D Dan Mora One Per Store Variant), AR CINESTATE FANGORIA Fangoria Volume 2 #7, $19.79 COMIC SHOP NEWS Comic Shop News #1713, AR DARK HORSE COMICS Against Hope TP, $19.99 Art Of Wolfenstein Youngblood HC, $49.99 Avatar The Last Airbender Imbalance Library Edition HC, $39.99 Bandette Volume 1 Presto TP (Second Edition), $14.99 Disney Frozen And Frozen 2 The Story Of The Movies In Comics HC, $14.99 Disney PIXAR The Incredibles And The Incredibles 2The Story Of The Movies In Comics HC, $14.99 Disney The Little Mermaid TP, $12.99 EC Archives War Against Crime Volume 2 HC, $49.99 Finder Chase The Lady TP, $24.99 Invisible Kingdom Volume 2 Edge Of Everything TP, $19.99 Minecraft Volume 2 Wither Without You TP, $10.99 Neil Gaiman Library Edition Volume 1 HC, $49.99 Panorama TP, $19.99 Plants Vs Zombies Volume 16 The Garden Path HC, $10.99 Unfinished Business HC, $19.99 DC COMICS Aquaman Giant #4, $4.99 Batgirl Volume 7 Oracle Rising TP, $19.99 Batman And The Outsiders #13 (Cover A Tyler Kirkham), $3.99 Batman And The Outsiders #13 (Cover B Michael Golden), AR Catwoman Volume 3 Friend Or Foe TP, $16.99 Daphne Byrne #5 (Of 6)(Cover A Piotr Jablonski), $3.99 Daphne Byrne #5 (Of 6)(Cover B Sebastian Fiumara), AR Dark Nights Death Metal #1 (Of 7)(Cover A Greg Capullo & Jonathan Glapion), $4.99 Dark Nights Death Metal #1 (Of 7)(Cover B David Finch Batman Variant), AR Dark Nights Death Metal #1 (Of 7)(Cover C Francesco Mattina Superman Variant), AR Dark Nights Death Metal #1 (Of 7)(Cover D Stanley Artgerm Lau Wonder Woman Variant), AR Dark Nights Death Metal #1 (Of 7)(Cover E Greg Capullo & Jonathan Glapion), AR Dark Nights Death Metal #1 (Of 7)(Cover F Greg Capullo & Jonathan Glapion Midnight Party Variant), AR Dark Nights Death Metal #1 (Of 7)(Cover G Black Blank Variant), AR Dark Nights Death Metal #1 (Of 7)(Cover H Doug Mahnke), AR DC Comics The Astonishing Art Of Amanda Conner HC, $39.99 Detective Comics #475 (Facsimile Edition), $3.99 Dial H For Hero Volume 2 New Heroes Of Metropolis TP, $16.99 Doomsday Clock Part 2 HC (Slipcase Edition)(verified by DC but not Diamond), $24.99 Event Leviathan Checkmate #1 (Of 6)(Cover A Alex Maleev), $3.99 Event Leviathan Checkmate #1 (Of 6)(Cover B Bryan Hitch), AR Flash Annual #3, $4.99 Flash Volume 12 Death And The Speed Force TP, $17.99 Green Lantern Season Two #4 (Of 12)(Cover A Liam Sharp), $3.99 Green Lantern Season Two #4 (Of 12)(Cover B Matteo Scalera), AR Hawkman #24 (Cover A Bryan Hitch), $3.99 Hawkman #24 (Cover B Gerardo Zaffino), AR Joker The Deluxe Edition HC, $34.99 MAD Magazine #14, $5.99 Metal Men #7 (Of 12)(Cover A Shane Davis & Michelle Delecki), $3.99 Metal Men #7 (Of 12)(Cover B Brian Bolland), AR Nightwing Annual #3, $4.99 Question The Deaths Of Vic Sage #3 (Of 4)(Cover A Denys Cowan & Bill Sienkiewicz), $6.99 Question The Deaths Of Vic Sage #3 (Of 4)(Cover B Howard Chaykin), AR Strange Adventures #2 (Of 12)(Cover A Mitch Gerads), $4.99 Strange Adventures #2 (Of 12)(Cover B Evan Doc Shaner), AR Superman #22 (Cover A Ivan Reis & Joe Prado), $3.99 Superman #22 (Cover B Bryan Hitch), AR Wonder Woman #757 (Cover A Robson Rocha & Danny Miki), $3.99 Wonder Woman #757 (Cover B Olivier Coipel Card Stock Variant), AR Wonder Woman Dead Earth #3 (Of 4)(Cover A Daniel Warren Johnson), $6.99 Wonder Woman Dead Earth #3 (Of 4)(Cover B Daniel Warren Johnson), AR Year Of The Villain Hell Arisen TP, $16.99 You Brought Me The Ocean TP, $16.99 Young Justice #15 (Cover A John Timms), $3.99 Young Justice #15 (Cover B Ben Caldwell), AR DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT Death To The Army Of Darkness #3 (Cover A Ben Oliver), $3.99 Death To The Army Of Darkness #3 (Cover B Sergio Davila), $3.99 Death To The Army Of Darkness #3 (Cover C Mirka Andolfo), $3.99 Death To The Army Of Darkness #3 (Cover D Adam Gorham Todd McFarlane Homage Variant), $3.99 Death To The Army Of Darkness #3 (Cover E Mirka Andolfo Black & White Variant), AR Death-Defying 'Devil #5 (Cover I In-Hyuk Lee Virgin Variant), AR Death-Defying 'Devil #5 (Cover J Riccardo Federici Virgin Variant), AR Dejah Thoris #5 (Cover R Parrillo Virgin Variant), AR Dejah Thoris #5 (Cover S Preissler Virgin Variant), AR Dejah Thoris #5 (Cover T Joseph Michael Linsner Virgin Variant), AR George R.R. Martin's A Clash Of Kings #4 (Cover A Mike S. Miller), $3.99 George R.R. Martin's A Clash Of Kings #4 (Cover B Mel Rubi), $3.99 George R.R. Martin's A Clash Of Kings #4 (Cover C Mel Rubi Virgin Variant), AR James Bond #5 (Cover G Afua Richardson Virgin Variant), AR Killing Red Sonja #2 (Cover A Christian Ward), $3.99 Killing Red Sonja #2 (Cover B Adam Gorham Todd McFarlane Homage Variant), $3.99 Killing Red Sonja #2 (Cover C Roberto Castro Bonus Variant), AR Killing Red Sonja #2 (Cover D Roberto Castro Black & White Variant), AR Killing Red Sonja #2 (Cover E Christian Ward Grayscale Variant), AR Killing Red Sonja #2 (Cover F Roberto Castro Virgin Variant), AR Killing Red Sonja #2 (Cover G Roberto Castro Black & White Virgin Variant), AR Kirby Genesis Definitive Edition HC (With Slipcase), $95.00 Red Sonja Age Of Chaos #4 (Cover A Lucio Parillo), $3.99 Red Sonja Age Of Chaos #4 (Cover A Lucio Parillo)(CGC Graded Edition), AR Red Sonja Age Of Chaos #4 (Cover B Alan Quah), $3.99 Red Sonja Age Of Chaos #4 (Cover C Ale Garza), $3.99 Red Sonja Age Of Chaos #4 (Cover D Derrick Chew), $3.99 Red Sonja Age Of Chaos #4 (Cover E Vanta Black Cosplay Variant), $3.99 Red Sonja Birth Of The She-Devil TP, $17.99 Vampirella Red Sonja #8 (Cover R Jae Lee Virgin Variant), AR Vampirella Red Sonja #8 (Cover S Jung-Geun Yoon Virgin Variant), AR Vampirella Red Sonja #8 (Cover T Adam Gorham Todd McFarlane Homage Virgin Variant), AR Vengeance Of Vampirella #8 (Cover A Lucio Parillo), $3.99 Vengeance Of Vampirella #8 (Cover B Ben Oliver), $3.99 Vengeance Of Vampirella #8 (Cover C Stephen Segovia), $3.99 Vengeance Of Vampirella #8 (Cover D Teena Titan Cosplay Variant), $3.99 IDW PUBLISHING Crow Lethe #1 (Of 3)(Peach Momoko 2nd Printing Variant Cover), AR Crow Lethe #2 (Of 3)(Cover A Peach Momoko), $3.99 Crow Lethe #2 (Of 3)(Cover B Tim Seeley), $3.99 Crow Lethe #2 (Of 3)(Cover C Tim Seeley Black & White Variant), AR Dave Cockrum's X-Men Artifact Edition HC, $125.00 Dying Is Easy #5 (Of 5)(Cover A Martin Simmonds), $4.99 Dying Is Easy #5 (Of 5)(Cover B Gabriel Rodriguez), $4.99 Dying Is Easy #5 (Of 5)(Cover C Gabriel Rodriguez Black & White Variant), AR Dying Is Easy #5 (Of 5)(Cover DMartin Simmonds Character Design Wraparound Variant), AR G.I. Joe A Real American Hero #272 (Cover A Netho Diaz), $3.99 G.I. Joe A Real American Hero #272 (Cover B Jamie Sullivan), $3.99 G.I. Joe A Real American Hero #272 (Cover C John Royle), AR Lab Volume 1 GN, $19.99 Tiananmen 1989 Our Shattered Hopes HC, $19.99 Transformers #20 (Cover A Ed Pirrie), $3.99 Transformers #20 (Cover B Jack Lawrence), $3.99 Transformers #20 (Cover C Billie Montfort & Blacky Shepherd), AR Transformers The IDW Collection Phase Two Volume 11 HC, $59.99 Uncle Scrooge #56 (Cover A Marco Gervasio), $4.99 Uncle Scrooge #56 (Cover B Marco Mazzarello), AR Walter Simonson's The Mighty Thor Artisan Edition HC, $49.99 IMAGE COMICS After Realm #2, $5.99 Birthright #44, $3.99 Deadly Class Volume 9 Bone Machine TP, $16.99 Family Tree #6, $3.99 Gideon Falls #22 (Cover A Andrea Sorrentino & Dave Stewart), $3.99 Gideon Falls #22 (Cover B Jeffrey Alan Love), $3.99 Gideon Falls Volume 4 The Pentoculus TP, $16.99 Hardcore Reloaded #5 (Of 5), $3.99 Heart Attack #6, $3.99 Ludocrats #2 (Of 5)(Cover A Jeff Stokely), $3.99 Ludocrats #2 (Of 5)(Cover B Kris Anka), $3.99 Man Among Ye #1 (Cover A Craig Cermak), $3.99 Man Among Ye #1 (Cover B Stjepan Sejic), $3.99 Moonshine #18, $3.99 Moonshine Volume 3 Rue Le Jour TP, $16.99 Perdy Volume 2 HC, $24.99 Savage Dragon #249, $3.99 MARVEL COMICS Conan The Book Of Thoth And Other Stories TP, $24.99 Daredevil By Chip Zdarsky Volume 3 Through Hell TP, $15.99 Dawn Of X Volume 5 TP, $17.99 Iron Man Epic Collection Volume 17 War Machine TP, $39.99 Marvel Masterworks The Avengers Volume 20 HC (Book Market Edition), $75.00 Marvel Masterworks The Avengers Volume 20 HC (Direct Market Variant Edition Volume 289), $75.00 Silver Surfer Omnibus Volume 1 HC (New Printing)(Esad Ribic Direct Market Cover), $100.00 Silver Surfer Omnibus Volume 1 HC (New Printing)(John Buscema Book Market Cover), $100.00 Star Wars Age Of Rebellion HC, $34.99 Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Big Squirrels Don't Cry TP, $12.99 ONI PRESS Invader Zim Quarterly #1 (Cover A Aaron Alexovich), $5.99 Invader Zim Quarterly #1 (Cover B Aaron Alexovich), $5.99 Invader Zim Volume 9 TP, $19.99 Kaijumax Season Five #3, $3.99 Savage Beard Of She Dwarf GN, $19.99 Tea Dragon Society GN, $9.99 SCOUT COMICS White Ash #4, $3.99 VIZ MEDIA Pokemon Adventures Collector's Edition Volume 1 TP, $17.99 ZENESCOPE ENTERTAINMENT Red Agent Island Of Dr. Moreau #5 (Of 5)(Cover A Geebo Vigonte), $3.99 Red Agent Island Of Dr. Moreau #5 (Of 5)(Cover B Igor Vitorino), $3.99

[chloenotknows]

South Park: The Fractured But Whole - The New Kid Is Back!

WARNING – I say this is a review, and in a sense, it is. I praise a lot of the mechanics of the game and the story. However, I’m mainly explaining my personal experiences I had with the game, so if you’re looking for a more objective review, then perhaps this isn’t the review for you. I also spoil pretty much the whole game within this review, so if you don’t mind spoilers, feel free to read. If you do get spoiled, please don’t complain to me.

The long-awaited sequel to South Park: The Stick of Truth, The Fractured But Whole (Butthole? Nicely played Trey and Matt!) places you in the shoes of the titular New Kid once again, straight after the events following the Stick of Truth. However, the neighbourhood kids have gotten sick of wizards and elves, and instead took to wearing capes and masks instead. Yes, this time, the South Park kids have decided to follow a Marvel/DC-esque game, complete with two differing franchises, which are Coon and Friends, and the Freedom Pals. This was introduced in the cartoon much earlier, but as someone who only watches the cartoon on occasion, I’ll only follow my experiences of the franchise from what I’ve experienced in game play.

The game starts a bit slowly, with The New Kid and the South Park boys finishing up the events of The Stick of Truth and transitioning to a superhero type quest to find Scrambles the cat for a $100 reward. The beginning cutscene follows The Coon, Eric Cartman’s Batman-esque raccoon character (It makes sense in context, I promise) jumping around South Park at night to track down evil and fight it to make his franchise bigger. From the beginning, we already get the impression that the Freedom Pals are already in a much better standing than Coon and Friends. We learn that the adults are being brainwashed through drugs and alcohol tainted with strong cat piss, which allows Mitch Conner to brainwash them into voting for him, and the two franchises must stop him. But as typical for Cartman, he only wants the cash to kickstart his franchise and allow the Coon to get much more money from the $100. While some may not see the supposed twist coming, anyone who is familiar with Cartman’s attitude, recognises Mitch Conner’s voice as his and notice the name COON and Friends will see it coming from miles away. But nevertheless, the strew of completely random enemies such as Professor Chaos’ minions to Crab People to genetically engineered cats with many asses brings the South Park humour back into the game.

Much like The Stick of Truth, the game could be mistaken for an extremely long South Park episode; the art style and animation is on point with the cartoon. Even when you are pitted into the RPG combat-like system, the witty dialogue and the banter between the characters as they move or attack is spot on with the characterisation with the kids we’ve seen on the show so far. The game is packed with references from the earlier episodes of the show (most of which flew over my head, unfortunately), along with memes of the present time. While most of these fads might have already died out, it was nice to be reminded of fidget spinners (known as Gyro Spinners in game) and Pokémon Go (Call Girl’s ultimate allows you to call people to play Chinpokomon Go), and brought a smile to my face whenever I saw it. Seeing the Coon’s smug smile while he held a fidget spinner on Coonstragram (Super hero Instagram? Sounds about right.) might have made me chuckle just a little bit too much.

And like the Stick of Truth, it blends far-fetched kid imagination with reality. The superhero costumes are made from objects that any kid can get their hands on, from cardboard to Tupperware, clothing and tinfoil, anything that they can access, really. Their attacks are choreographed with their makeshift costumes but have effects that really question if it’s play pretend or not. You’ll have kids clawing their enemies or shooting lasers out of their eyes, to having to escape to the pavement because a car is going by. But since it’s South Park, you can’t really expect realism or full fantasy.

But as we all know, the main point of sequels is that they will expand upon a previous game with more content and smoother gameplay, and The Fractured But Whole is no expectation.

What are the differences between The Stick of Truth and The Fractured But Whole?

The main difference would obviously be the switch from the battling wizards and elves to the more modern superhero Freedom Pals/Coon and Friends war. The missions and characters change dramatically to adjust to the new plot. Instead of stopping a disgruntled warrior-turned-tyrant from taking over the world, your new objective is to find out what happened to Scrambles the cat, and earn that sweet $100 which can easily kickstart the franchise of the lucky heroes who get their hands on it. Each character has a new persona which suits their character (and yes, I know they were introduced beforehand in the cartoon, but I still need to catch up on that). Mysterion, who is actually Kenny, keeps coming back to life after he dies, much like his normal self. Jimmy doesn’t let his disability get in the way of becoming Fastpass, and Craig’s ‘I don’t get a fuck’ attitude is portrayed perfectly in his superhero persona, Super Craig. Popular character Timmy goes from being a background character in the Stick of Truth to an actual superhero so overpowered, you cannot play as him.

Butthole themselves takes on their own superhero persona of the player’s choice, but the residents of South Park give them the title of the ‘Farting Vigilante’. You also get the choice of different superhero classes, ranging from the simple Speedster and Brutalist, to the Plantmancer and the Cyborg, and even the Psychic or the Martial Artist, giving the player a melting pot of different moves and abilities to use. However, Butthole still has the use of their farts, thankfully, but with a twist. Instead of Dragonshout, or Terrence and Phillip being your fart mentors, Morgan Freeman takes over your mentorship, and teaches you the way of the Timefarts, game-breaking abilities which allow you to change the overworld or combat as you see fit. Made a mistake during a puzzle? Timefart Glitch can fix that in an instant.

Your character also has access to a Crafting app on their phone, which allows them to make different artefacts to increase their might, healing items or mission-related items. As you progress through the game, your artefacts and healing items increase in power, but so do the ingredients needed to make them. Don’t worry, though, if you complete the side quests and loot everything, you’ll find you’ll be at 999+ for the basic materials. The rarer Sports Bottle and Tortilla ingredients can be bought from vendors, and don’t be fooled into buying the full items from them either. It’s definitely much cheaper to make them, even if it is time consuming.

Combat is much different compared to The Stick of Truth. Instead of fixed positions and two playable characters, you have a larger field and up to four playable characters (though this can change depending on the mission). Your field of movement is limited, but the fact you can move is a much better improvement. Your different moves have different affects depending on the class you chose, from ranged to close up to giving different status affects. These can prove extremely hilarious in combat as well, with the poisoned ‘Gross Out’ making character vomit mid-battle (Tupperware vomits into his Tupperware helmet, a very funny touch), to big bad mutants getting Enraged, and only going after the person who pissed them off (In most cases, Call Girl will be the one pissing people off, but Super Craig can do this too).

The Fractured But Whole’s combat system gets more difficult over time as it introduces different mechanics, such as timed attacks, where a bar on the bottom of the screen fills up and does something different depending on what situation you’re in, and causes whoever’s turn to stop instantly to allow the effect to take place. There are also charged attacks, where the person using it reveals an area they will attack, and on their next turn, unleash their attack, which differs from The Stick of Truth. It also prompts the player to focus more in battle, as you’re instructed to do button prompts to unleash and block attacks.

Microaggressions are also a new thing, which allows you a free hit on an enemy which insult you or a minority. These are parodies of the Social Justice Warriors of modern day societies, something which South Park latched onto quickly. My personal favourite was getting to punch Stan, of all people, for telling me his attack was my fault. A great laugh for me, and a stern telling off for him.

The Ultimate abilities were also extremely entertaining and awesome to watch. From the Coon fantasizing over movie posters and being on talk shows, to Call Girl attacking the entire field with a session of Chinpokomon Go, each ability suits the superhero and character. Even the Butthole gets different ultimate abilities depending on which class you choose to play as, but even the basic Brutalist ultimate is satisfying to watch again and again and again.

What stuck out to me was the ‘Did they really just make me watch that?’ moments. The Fractured But Whole can never top aborted nazi fetus babies, but a couple of moments had me either slightly disgusted or very amused. Such memories are the Coon’s torture, where you still have to eat food despite Cartman puking up on it (and seeing the usually stoic Butthole make an obviously disgusted face was hilarious), two fourth graders attempting to give two men a lap dance in order to get information about a woman with a dick tattoo, The New Kid being forced to fight against a parody of Jared Fogel (who I will not go into detail about) and even some more racist than usual cops. My second playthrough saw my African American parents in jail, and I definitely felt the need to save them before they were fed to the monstrosity in the basement.

Another difference is the customisation. The New Kid gets a lot of new options to be totally different, but the biggest, in my opinion, has to be the option to play as a girl. That’s right, where the Stick of Truth was so certain that Douchebag was a boy, Butthole (the new nickname for The New Kid, which is just as funny) can completely retcon this with a quick chat to Mr. Mackey. The game cleverly throws aside a potential plot hole by simply saying the protagonist was a girl all along, and they hid it very well. After all, the Stick of Truth featured an all-girls club simply because the boys wouldn’t allow them to join them (At least, not until the end, but that’s spoilers) Simply put, the boys don’t really care to notice that you’re not the same gender as them, but others will certainly notice.

Going for the Token Experience Trophy (which I’ll talk about more further down the review) allowed me to make two different characters to see what the characters and story had to offer. The first was a transgender male. I might be a girl myself, but truth to be told, I only really play as a girl if I really fancy it. So, after I did my normal playthrough, I decided to make a second character who would be obviously female. The second character was made to be a cisgender female, who was also an African-American. From what I noticed, dialogue choices tend to differ few and far in between, with the boys not particularly bothering to even call you by your correct pronouns. Confusing at first, but also a hilarious reminder that these boys are too busy superheroing and being awesome to even notice that Butthole was actually a girl all along!

Funnily enough, they also seem to comment on your supposed ‘femininity’, with each comment suiting their character. Butters, being the friendly boy he is, calls The New Kid pretty for a boy, and surprisingly, Mysterion states his strange desire to protect Butthole, because ‘he’ reminds him of his little sister. (If you bring Karen’s doll back to her, Kenny will thank you on Coonstagram. Aw!) Others, such as Clyde and Craig, go extremely blunt with their comments. Craig will even wonder why he’s not attracted to you as a guy when he’s gay. It makes you wonder if they’ll ever find out who you really are.

Spoilers, they don’t. But I suppose it’s for the best that they don’t.

Your parents’ arguments will also change depending on what you tell Mr. Mackey and PC Principal. Looking through both playthroughs, the choice of being a male didn’t really affect the arguments that much. However, being a female changes a lot of the dialogue options completely. Call Girl (also known as Wendy) will state that she knew you were a girl all along. Mr. Mackey will express shock if you pick the female option. And your parents will obviously use the correct gender pronouns depending on what gender choice you choose. It might seem like a very small thing, but it really makes the game feel more authentic, in my opinion.

In typical South Park fashion, you get assaulted by racist, homophobic rednecks whatever choices you choose. Even if you are a straight, cisgender male, these drunken rednecks will always try to pick a fight with you. And don’t even get me started on race. The game has a difficulty slider determined on your colour skin, with pale white being the easiest setting, and black being the hardest. However, this doesn’t affect your combat settings; rather it affects the amount of money you loot from different containers all over town. Your true combat difficulty comes from a little option in the menu, allowing you to pick from Casual, Heroic and Mastermind. Heroic will provide you with a decent challenge, but I recommend not playing Mastermind if you haven’t played the game before.

Speaking of the changes The New Kid was given, this game was filled with very surprising things. Namely…

Character Development!

I’d never thought I’d expect this from a South Park game of all things, but the game went out of its way to develop the boys and other characters, much like how kids usually change in real life. It was a pleasant surprise and something I definitely didn’t expect. As someone who still needs to watch more of the wonderful cartoon, seeing Tweek and Craig (the gay couple) trying to sort out their relationship problems, to the former Coon and Friends eventually joining Freedom Pals and even your parents getting some character development of their own, it was extremely awesome to watch. As someone who really looks for a story in a game, no matter how small or how covered up it is by crude humour, The Fractured But Whole gives you new insight into why these characters behave, or behaved, as they do.

From what the Stick of Truth told us, The New Kid’s parents have struggled to keep their child’s powers under control, but for what reason? We finally get our answer through different arguments the parents go through throughout the game. Due to the stresses of trying to keep their child safe, the mother, Kelly, has turned to drinking while the father, Chris, has resorted to marijuana to keep his sanity level. This often leads to many arguments between them, and depending on what your character tells Mr. Mackey or PC Principal, your parents will argue about the choice. They also mention a medicine throughout the game, which is actually the cause of Butthole’s extremely powerful flatulence. This joins the continuity of the Stick of Truth, where the Big Bad Government Guy wasn’t interested in The New Kid’s farts, but rather their ability to make friends on Facebook so quickly. Why does The New Kid have these powers? Well, duh, it’s because their parents had the same powers! It seems so cheesy and expected, something that is to be expected from any cliché superhero story, and something which I really enjoyed watching. A cheesy explanation is still a good explanation in my eyes!

Another good example of character development was The New Kid themselves. In The Stick of Truth, Douchebag barely reacted to the world around them, and while they were a good kid, had barely any story or anything to show their thoughts. In this game, you get more insight into why Butthole behaves like they do. The game hints that their mute nature is a choice, especially since they’re already an amnesiac with no idea why they can gather followers so quickly. Call Girl even hints that a girl New Kid pretending to be a boy was a choice The New Kid goes by. Farting, however, comes naturally now to this kid, and the first solution The New Kid always comes up with to help their allies is to use their butt to their advantage Heck, they shoved a blaster thing and a hamster up there, for goodness sake! This kid does not mess around!

Finally, seeing Tweek and Craig go from a ‘are they, are they not’ to an almost official canon couple was also quite nice. The game jokes around with this a lot, giving the player the opportunity to collect ‘yaoi’ of Tweek and Craig around South Park, to giving a special ultimate reminiscent of Japanese anime when used. However, The New Kid, with the help of Tweek and Craig’s parents, convince the two boys to go into relationship counselling. That also involves beating up a lot of fourth graders representing relationship problems. Eventually their snide comments and hateful remarks turn into overprotective comments and banter between the two. While I’m sure the relationship itself is a parody of overenthusiastic shippers, it’s still a nice change of pace to see two characters being happy with each other.

Now, I want to talk about the hardest challenge of all. The trophy which will potentially net you that platinum, or the last achievement you need. I’m talking about…

The Token Experience

Being a black person is very difficult in South Park, especially in this game. Halfway through the game, all the black people around town get locked up simply because a monster within the bowels of the police station prefers the taste of darker meat. So, it comes as no surprise that the aforementioned difficulty slider would make the black skin the highest difficulty. However, that isn’t enough. You can’t just be black. No, you must set the combat to Mastermind as well. That might not sound like much, but I almost died in battles that I ploughed through easily in Heroic. Despite this, the game’s story doesn’t change all that much. Nobody insults you because of your race, and the only time it matters is when the police start locking up all the black people. However, this challenge isn’t one to be taken lightly. If you’ve played it and thought it was still easy, good on you. I applaud you for it. As I usually play on Easy because of the story, playing on Mastermind really tested me, and forced me to sit there for minutes, trying to choose whether to revive my comrade or attack, and the wrong decision will often net you a painful game over. But if you’re a fan of the story, I’d definitely recommend playing it.

My Gripes

Oh boy, here comes the reviewer starts hating things out of nowhere part. Quite frankly, there isn’t a lot I dislike about The Fractured But Whole. Its clever story, cheesy and rude dialogue and constant fart and old meme references was enough to keep me entertained. But what I really disliked was just how short the game was. I finished the game in around thirteen hours. I finished the previous game, The Stick of Truth, in twice that amount of time. There isn’t that much in the main story. And I know the game did come with a Season Pass with more missions, but I really felt the game should have been longer. Instead I’ve been left a bit underwhelmed by the overall length. However, I can see there being potential additional DLC in the future, and if it explores even more story, you bet I’ll jump on the opportunity to buy it.

The map system. It felt extremely hard to navigate, in my opinion. The trackers pointing to the next objective were too small, and left me searching the interface for a while trying to find where to go next. I get the feeling this was to match with the show and to keep the visuals clean, but it didn’t help me when I couldn’t even find the Fastpass flags in order to help me move to a different place. Speaking of small, reading the additional text on Coonstragram and other places was extremely difficult to do without squinting.

The combat system eventually gets repetitive, even if you change up your allies and abilities. At the end of the day, it’s still a lot of the same button prompting and avoiding the enemy’s attack. I get it’s kind of hard to vary combat over time, and I really can’t think of a way it could have been implemented better, so I can’t particularly complain about this issue.

My Overall Views

South Park: The Fractured But Whole is a comedic, fart filled roleplaying game. It’s great for those who played the previous games, those who like South Park in general, and I think it even appeals to those who really could use a comedic roleplaying game in their gaming library. While I take issue in the length of the game, the story, character development and silly and cheesy humour more than makes up for it. The combat, while eventually repetitive, evolves into something much more complicated than Stick of Truth’s, and while a few of the jokes don’t really match up to the previous game’s standards, The Fractured But Whole still stands as an impressive game in its own right, and I recommend it.

Just don’t forget to keep your arsenal full as you level up.

Chloe's Score: 7/10