#sea-salt-slidewhistles

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13(Kyle?) 20, and 27?

13. Unpopular opinion about Kyle?

GOOD QUESTION, because wow is he a spicy character to have ANY opinions on right now...

Ummm Gonna lean into something I wanted to say earlier about him when I was talking about Kyman, because I don't see this factor of his character really given attention by either kymans or styles (where the fandom is most prominently divided on Kyle, I think) and I kinda feel in between it as a big shipper of Style who's also really intrigued by the complexities of Kyle and Eric's dynamic.

And sorry if any of my language comes off anti any ships here, I just want to work off of the debate I've seen between both of them to talk about this but I'm not trying to step on any fingers here!!

I've seen it said often as an argument for Kyman that Kyle is absolutely obsessed with Eric back, and I've seen in turn Styles often like to downplay Kyle and Eric's dynamics entirely or act like it's completely insane to suggest this idea- But I kind of agree Kyle is???

Personally, what I think is that Kyle absolutely is obsessed with Eric, what he's doing, what he's up to, who he talks to, etc, but I just don't think this is due to some sort of underlying romance. I think Kyle is meant to be portrayed in the show as being incredibly invested in what Cartman is up to because

Kyle has made it his personal mission to fix Cartman/keep him in line. He often seems to believe it's his job to guide him into doing better, keep him out of trouble, keep him from hurting people, and keep him from getting hurt himself (though I think this comes out of Kyle giving into his guilt watching Cartman actively suffering, there's also been multiple times Kyle encouraged him to get himself killed)

I just think Kyle is genuinely nervous about Cartman. Now this isn't particularly obvious- It's not like we see Kyle showing any real signs of fear around Eric, but I do see signs of anxiety that are far more subtle- The important thing to remember here is that Kyle rarely show's many negative emotions beyond anger. It's how he processes many things, and when anger doesn't work, we often see him shut down emotionally (Ex. scenes in The List and Ginger Cow). This isn't to say Kyle never shows sadness/fear, he definitely does! But these tend to come out more in specific situations where as more often, he represses these emotions and keeps his vulnerabilities out of obvious reach. Idk, I'm rambling a bit here but the point is that I think a lot of Kyle's quickness to get so angry and worked up over Cartman, his need to know what he's up to and try to jump on it is a reaction done out of anxiety that I'm not even sure Kyle is aware of. I think this is especially prevalent in say, Post Covid, where we see Kyle has seemed to gotten a very good control over his anger and aggression UNTIL he has to face Eric, to which immediately he is paranoid and jumping on everything Eric says to him, refusing to believe anything he sees and positive it's some jab against him that he'll pay for the moment he give in to believing it. And I don't think this is unfair of Kyle! Of course he's distrustful! Eric has put him through a lot, fooled him many times, and Kyle just can't keep it together anymore the moment he has to speak to him. Just... The entire meltdown of this calm collected persona he's been managing along with his paranoia just comes off so much as anxiety to me. Not to mention, I do think Kyle has anxiety he's not aware of. The way he describes anxiety as normal in Buddha Box and goes into detail what is "normal" to feel like... "Everyone has anxiety! Everyone gets nervous! Everyone is afraid being around people! Everyone has feelings they'd rather stay home alone! And you know what they do? They get over it." Damn Kyle. Get therapy honey. You need a Xanax or something. None of that is normal and the fact that he has become so deluded to believe it is is pretty tragic, but kind of supports that he doesn't even recognize the feelings making him act out so aggressively as an anxiety response.

Anyway TLDR Kyle is obsessed with Eric because of paranoia and anxiety/his need to be a good person and "fix" him

20. What is the purest ship in the fandom?

k2 next question

nah but seriously, this ship has no discourse, the nicest shippers... Is just as a ship genuinely super sweet and nice and wholesome and lovely, Kenny and Kyle just feel like characters who really understand each other and function well together. I love them and I love K2 shippers.

27 is right here!

Based on this ask list :)

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I really like your Style playlist! (Two Birds is pique Style, you got good taste) If you're interested, can I suggest the song "At My Back" by Madds Buckley? It's a pretty cute song, and I think the vibes suit Style pretty well, personally

Ah! Really pretty song :) I have to listen to it more, it definitely has the vibes.

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How's about a Kyle or Stan for rhe ask game?

Kyle's been done, here he is!

So Stan it is! And here's the original ask meme :)

Sexuality Headcanon: Stan is just a bicon, I don't think anything else can be said. Look at him. That is the bisexual character. That's who he is. Though tbh, I really like Stan being gay too, IDK, rare headcanon but I just find him dealing with comphet really interesting even if his feelings for Wendy seem very real to me.

Either way, I think besides Eric he's the one out of the main four that feels the least capable of being straight to me, I just- Can't really see it. Stan feels like such a queer character, idk lol

Gender Headcanon: Oh man that boy is not cis. Leaning that he's AMAB and just uses nonbinary but he feels like that's too vague and doesn't fully describe his feelings for his gender. But thinking about it too much stresses him the fuck out, so nonbinary it is. I think Stan has a really big feminine side and he leans into it a lot, and I think he uses the big three, she/they/he, though some days he prefers one over the others. Overall it's just something he really ends up exploring but also not his favorite subject, it's a lot to think about.

A ship I have with said character: Stendylenny as mentioned before, but for the more usual, Style and Stendy are like, my favorites for him, Style above all but Stendy is a close second. I used to kind of feel meh about Stendy on its own but I don't know, I've seen it done well and when it's done well there's such an appeal to it. They're pretty similar dynamically to Style on the surface but I think they're actually fairly unique from it, and there's something so sweet about the both of them kind of figuring themselves out together and putting in the effort to work on their canonical relationship problems. I like a few other Stan ships, namely stenny, stutters, and stanman feels interesting... I think I could get behind it anyway.

A BROTP I have with said character: Stennnyyyyy although I ship stenny a lot too :)) They're such goofballs together and get up to a lot of stupid bullshit. Stan and Cartman are really interesting too, their dynamic is so complex. Stan seems so unbothered by Cartman and I think Cartman kind of knows it and has a sort of respect for Stan. I mean, clearly he likes the guy since he let the pangolin live just because Stan was crying. That's so interesting to me, I need to explore it more.

A NOTP I have with said character: Stary. I don't know why. I have no reason for it. It bothers me soooo much for no reason. Not too keen on Staig either, though I mind it less.

A random headcanon: He has BPD and ADHD. Also he's a short, stocky guy, and pretty strong, especially from working on the farm! I think he still plays sports and stuff as he gets older but it becomes less of a core interest because boardgames take over, and I like the idea that he likes doodling a lot, and isn't that bad at it :)

General Opinion over said character: I love Stan so much. I need to protect him... Look at him. Little scrimblo. Baby.