I will probably do a three parter marathon debunking people’s claims about the boys’ characterization and that the show has a consistent canon.
I recently found an interesting post that "debunks" common stereotypes associated with Style and here I am ready to give my own thoughts on them.
https://yumkippur.tumblr.com/post/93077973800/so-whats-your-input-on-the-bootyful-fanfictions
I personally agree with most of the points so I’m going to mainly discuss Super Sensitive Kyle because I strongly disagree with those takes so let’s start, shall we?
"Fanon Kyle is easily insulted and often insecure and overly-emotional. I think this might be some people’s way of trying to translate his short-temper into their own words, or they’re trying really hard to project their own feelings onto him, but it’s gross and I want it to stop."
Dear God, how is gross to acknowledge that a character from a hardly consistent show can show emotions too? And who cares? People are allowed to write what they want and you can’t really stop them.
"In ‘Here Comes the Neighborhood’, he cooly explains to Token that everyone has something they get picked on for and no one should be a pussy about it (I’m guessing he means that the proper response is anger- typical nine year old)."
Seriously? You’re using an OLD ASS episode back when Kyle had even less personality than he has today to back up your claims? What does that even mean?
"He does show some insecurity in a few episodes- like when he thought he was voted ugliest kid in the class, but rather than shutting down and getting depressed about it, in his typical fashion, he gets angry (and tries to burn the school down)."
Okay but South Park doesn’t give a shit about "canon" characterization and besides The List(which was an episode where Kyle actually learns from his mistakes) and season 21(which was a very messily written season where even sympathetic characters such as Stan, Wendy and Nichole were shown to be douchebags btw), I don’t recall any episode where he tries to kill someone because of his insecurities and early seasons episodes don’t count because he was literally a flat character back then.
"Kyle generally isn’t emotional. Stan’s the sensitive one in that meaning."
This is the same Stan that laughed at gossips in "Bass to the mouth" and rarely shows empathy and concern towards his own girlfriend Wendy, I’m not saying that Stan is a bad person but his personality is NOT 100% specific, there’s plenty of episodes where Kyle is the one to show sympathy towards others while Stan doesn’t care and vice versa, this show is not like My Little Pony, the characters aren’t defined by one single trait.
"It’s safer to say that Kyle is a little emotionally-distant. He can sympathize with someone once they’ve explained to him what’s wrong, and he’s gone out of his way to help people who’re having tough times (Free Willyz, Night of the Living Homeless, Crack Babies, etc), but he seems to have trouble noticing when there’s an emotional problem (Assburgers episode), and he can’t comprehend letting tough times get in the way of living life (Rasins- goth!Stan episode). So, while Kyle has the capacity to be understanding, he does lack some empathy."
Are you really using TWO episodes as an example that Kyle canonically lacks empathy and sympathy? One which is a REALLY OLD episode and the other is an episode where the characters were mainly used to move the plot forward?
Kyle is NOT emotionally distant, also, you only used three examples where he is shown to be be empathetic, how about The Jeffersons episode? How about the Bass to Mouth episode? The Toilet Paper episode? Or even the Butters’ bottom bitch episode? Heck, how about almost every single episode where Kyle is shown to care for Ike?(I also find rather ironic how those people claim that Kyle is insensitive and yet ignore that he is protective of Ike because of "Kick the baby").
"When it comes to sensitivity as far as how Kyle treats people, the fandom makes him way too kind."
No, no, no, no and NO! I rarely see people making Kyle "too kind" unless it’s a Style aged up fanfic or a high school fanfic, the majority of people that I’ve encountered during 2019-2020 thought of Kyle as an anger driven asshole who only cares about fighting with Cartman.
And who cares about what the fandom thinks? As I said, this show has ZERO canon consistency!
"While he almost always fights for just causes, he can be just as ruthless with his insults as Cartman and like I said, he doesn’t always practice sympathy."
I think you’re secretly a Kyman shipper/hj
But in all seriousness, you’re right, Kyle doesn’t always practice sympathy because this show is not fucking character driven, none of the characters have consistent traits unless it’s relevant to the plot, for example, Kenny McCormick can either be a dirty, horny kid or a kind and heroic boy or sometimes an innocent, pure kid who can’t do no wrong yet the fandom stubbornly insists that there’s one way to portray him.
"I think the Style fandom is really missing out on some lovely clueless Kyle looking to Stan to keep him on the right path"
So you admit that your own personal interpretation of the characters is the only right way? Again, the show doesn’t have a proper canon and never will.
Also, how Kyle is lovely clueless? He was the one who approached most of his love interests and is more of a ladies man than Stan.
This is sad because it was mostly a good analysis but moral of the story; South Park is rarely if ever consistent and you shouldn’t try to apply canon to the show because there isn’t really.