Jab’s Builds! (Nightmare Creatures/Circus! Lawnmower Man! Metroid!)

[Jabroniville]

STUART & CAROL McCORMICK
Role: Alcoholic Idiots
PL 4 (58)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 4 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 2 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+6)
Deception 4 (+7)
Expertise (Filmmaker) 9 (+11)
Expertise (Acting) 6 (+9)
Intimidation 3 (+6)
Perception 2 (+4)

Advantages:
Equipment 2 (Gun +4)

Offense:
Unarmed +4 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Gun +2 (+4 Ranged Damage, DC 19)
Initiative +3

Defenses:
Dodge +3 (DC 13), Parry +4 (DC 14), Toughness +2, Fortitude +2, Will +2

Complications: 
Secret (Cult of Cthulhu)
Secret (Making Meth)
Relationship (Kenny)- Stuart & Carol seem to care for their child somewhat, mourning his death(s).
Rivalry (Gerald Broflovski)- Stuart and Gerald used to be friends, but Gerald went off to college and became successful, while Stuart went nowhere.
Responsibility (Poor)- The McCormicks live in an old shack Stuart & Gerald built years ago, and their only video game system is a ColecoVision plugged into a black & white TV.

Total: Abilities: 40 / Skills: 28--14 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 0 / Defenses: 2 (58)

-Kenny's parents have by far the least amount of focus of the show's parents, typically only seen here or there. Kenny's dad hasn't had major focus in ages- early episodes featured him as a "town drunk" type whose alcoholism had cost him any job he could have, so he lives in a run-down, filthy shack with his wife and several children, one of whom was Kenny (the only one who didn't look disheveled). They frequently get into drunken arguments and fights with each other. Carol has never appeared in a significant role.

[Jabroniville]

REDNECKS
Role: Hardcore Conservatives, Stupid Hillbillies

-While South Park routinely takes pot-shots and liberals and Politically-Correct types, they share the hate when dealing with rednecks- they typically paint social conservatives as stupid, Southern-accented hillbillies whose old-fashioned values are drastically out of step with today's society. However, even as the show rips on them, it also makes sure to point out the reasoning behidn their choices- when "Goobacks" from the future come to our time to make money for their families back home, they create social strife by taking jobs from modern-day people (because they work for cheaper wages), and make things difficult with their lack of languages skills- both of these are treated like the nuisances they really are (especially when Stan's dad, who lectured the "rednecks" on their bigotry, ALSO lost his job to one), even as the hillbillies are painted as close-minded and bigoted. 

-And, of course, there's the infamous refrain of "They T'K 'R JOBS!!!", as the "they took our jobs" comment gets shortened further and further until it's the most hilarious jibberish imaginable. And they just keep repeating it, adding to the hilarity each time, shifting to "They T'K 'R JRBS!!!" "T'K 'R JBS!" "T'K'R'DOO!" as their Southern accents get thicker and thicker with each telling. 

-Later episodes kept using the rednecks, with one even featuring the main one, a red-haired guy, who confessed that a lot of his reactionary speech and politics stemmed from this feeling of being "left behind" in a world he no longer understood, so he was forced to wave around the Confederate flag (hilariously, the rednecks start waving it at every available opportunity, like to kill a bug). This was a big thing circling around the election of Donald Trump, as backlash against modern political correctness took a huge portion of the blame for getting this vulgar, anti-PC, non-career-politician elected into the highest office in the land. And it both made the rednecks appear too far behind the times, while ALSO giving almost a sympathetic tinge, as his confusion could be understood by a lot of people. As someone I know put it, "Some people woke up one day, saw that Caitlyn Jenner called Woman Of The Year, and didn't know what world they were living in anymore".

-So basically, rednecks are DUMB, but understandable.

[Ares]

It's a little thing, but one of my favorite Kenny moments was during the addiction episode where Kenny decided to kick addiction by hanging out in some flowers.

Kenny: *sniffs flowers*

Stan: "Aw, look, Kenny is getting high off of life."

Kenny: *starts HEAVILY inhaling the flowers and giggling*

Kyle: "Man, Kenny is getting REALLY high on life."

Kenny: *starts inhaling the scent of plants with a maniacal intensity and laughing hysterically*

Cartman: "Wow, Kenny is getting TOTALLY WASTED on life."

[BriarThrone]

My main grievance with the 'cultural appropriation' argument is the blinding double standards, for instance white actors playing Egyptian gods in the 'Gods of Egypt' movie was deemed racist and cultural appropriation despite them being mythical, known to be shape-changers and the Egyptians themselves not caring about the movie in any way, yet somehow black actors playing characters from Norse mythology in the Thor movies is perfectly fine and anyone who questions the casting decision is just racist.

That's a fine point. My major grievance with the concept, though, is that it's just inherently nonsensical. "Culture" is a collection of memes. Spreading memes, even if you're not a part of the originator's in-group, doesn't take anything away from anyone.* There is no such thing as "cultural appropriation." There is only cultural appreciation.

*As an ethnic Kekistani, meming is an integral part of my native culture. If you're against cultural appropriation, you must respect my culture, and thus not communicate ideas.

[Jabroniville]

Stan: "Dude, we're gonna play football. Do you wanna play?"
Token: "You mean you WANT me around?"
Stan: "Sure, dude, you're our friend."
Token: "Yeah, I know. But you guys always rip on me for bein' rich."
Stan: "Dude, just because we rip on you for being rich doesn't mean we don't like you."
Kyle: "Yeah. We're guys, dude. We find something about all our friends to rip on. We made fun of you for being rich just like we make fun of Butters for being wimpy."
Butters: "THEY SURE DO!"
Stan: "Yeah, like we rip on Kyle for being a Jew."
Kyle: "Right."
Token: "That's right, huh?"
Kyle: "And Stan for being in love with Wendy."
Stan: "Yeah, I get it for that."
Kyle: "And Cartman for being fat."
Cartman: "Uh-huh."
Kyle: "And Cartman for being stupid."
Cartman: "Yeah."
Kyle: "And Cartman for having a whore for a mom."
Cartman: "Hey."
Kyle: "And Cartman for being a sadistic assho-."
Cartman: "'EY, YOU DID ME ALREADY!"
Token: "You're right, guys. From now on, I'm fine with being made fun of for being rich!"
Stan: "OHHHHHH, but we're not gonna rip on you for being rich anymore!"
Token: "You're not?"
Kyle: "No dude. Because since you got your feelings SO hurt for being ripped on, now we think you're a pussy!"
Stan: [walks past Token] "Yeah, so now you're a pussy. Pussaholic."
Kyle: [walks past Token, behind Stan] "Come on, Nurse Token. We're gonna play football, you puss."
Cartman: "Pussy."
Butters: "Heh- yeah, later, puss."
Craig: "Ha, that guy's a pussy."
Token: "Wait! I liked being ripped on for being rich better!"
-Possibly the surest sign that the creators of the show understand the minds of children.

TOKEN BLACK (aka Token Williams, aka Black Jakku, Tupperware)
Role: The Rich Kid, Token Black Kid
PL 1 (32), PL 2 (32) Defenses
STRENGTH -1 STAMINA 0 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 2 DEXTERITY 2
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 2

Skills:
Athletics 4 (+3)
Expertise (Singing) 4 (+6)
Insight 3 (+5)
Investigation 2 (+4)
Perception 3 (+5)

Advantages:
None

Powers:
"Black Physiology" Enhanced Skills 4: Expertise (Guitar) 4 (+4) (Flaws: Limited to Bass) [1]

Offense:
Unarmed +2 (-1 Damage, DC 14)
Initiative +2

Defenses:
Dodge +2 (DC 12), Parry +2 (DC 12), Toughness +0, Fortitude +1, Will +4

Complications:
Reputation (Rich)- Token gets made fun of for being super-rich. In a 2001 episode, he didn't even know what a VHS tape was.
Reputation (Pussy)- Token being so butthurt over being made fun of for being rich ended up giving him a different reputation.
Relationship (Nichole)- Thanks to the manipulates of Eric Cartman ("Everyone with their own race!"), Token and the only other black child in town hooked up.
Involuntary Transformation (Laughing at Tyler Perry)- Black people cannot help themselves but laugh at the stupid antics of Tyler Perry ("HELL-ERRRRRR!!!!"). They find this tremendously embarrassing.
Disabled (Child)- Children are very short, have tiny arms, and aren't as fast as adults. They can never Intimidate an adult without a weapon, no matter their Presence, and are very lightweight, making them easy to pick up.

Total: Abilities: 20 / Skills: 16--8 / Advantages: 0 / Powers: 1 / Defenses: 3 (32)

-Token is a great example of a literal background character (a little black boy with "T" on his shirt) who turned into something big. A parody of characters like Franklin from Peanuts, who was introduced simply to sit there and be black, with no other character traits. Hell, his name is literally "Token". He was never really a major character, until Here Comes The Neighborhood, which reveals the boys cracking wise on him for having a rich family. Upset, he decides to get other rich folks to move to South Park- Will Smith, Snoop Dogg, Master P and other celebrities (all of whom are coincidentally of the same ethnicity) soon move into town, driving up property values and drawing the ire of the other townsfolk. Meanwhile, Token runs away after the rich kids make fun of his pedestrian tastes, feeling like he doesn't fit in anywhere.

-While Token is quickly annoyed by the burp & fart-obsessed lions at the Colorado Zoo, the townsfolk band together to get rid of the "richers". When burning a lower-case "t" on their front lawns doesn't work (Will Smith instantly recognizes the significance: "A burning lower-case 't'! T... Time to LEAVE?"), they realize that the only thing "cash-chuckers" are afraid of is GHOSTS. This convinces the richers that the town is haunted, and so they abandon things.

-Token is relieved to find out that the boys didn't hate him; they were simply ripping on his wealth the way boys ALWAYS tease each other. However, since he had such a problem with being made fun of, they now decide to mock him for being a "pussy", which is much worse. Which is ABSOLUTELY how things work in real life.

-Token is, usually, a voice of reason on the show. His annoyed or stoic reactions to things can be pretty funny, such as when he immediately quits playing "The Lord of the Rings" when he sees the porno tape, declaring "I'm not playing anymore", and then casually asks his parents about what it means when several midgets take turns pissing on a woman ("What porno tape WAS that?"). In another episode, he manages to finally convince Stan that, as a white person, he could never truly understand the connotations of the "N-word". And the time he learns that, as a black person, he can automatically play bass (which Cartman automatically knew was in Token's parents' basement)- his annoyed "Goddammit..." as he picked it up and immediately began plucking away like a pro was classic.

As Tupperware: Token uses tupperware as general gadgetry, kind of.
As Black Jakku: Token, apparently a smart kid, decides that "perfect spelling" is an adequate power.

[Thorpocalypse]

-The episode that parodied Queer Eye For The Straight Guy was just fantastic. It starts off with a standard parody, poking fun at all the men in town getting "product" in their hair and acting really effeminate, but then turned into a searing satire, with Mr. Garrison pointing out that gay people DELIBERATELY created a culture that wasn't like that of regular people, and that aping it was basically swiping from an oppressed minority. He ends up going to Chef to ask him what black folks did when white people co-opted their culture (Chef tells him about the changing black slang, and his final one, "Flibbitty-Flobbitty-Floop", caused my college roommate from Korea to mutter "I don't understand black people").

That always came off as an extremely weak argument to me. Basically, it's one group complaining that their culture is so accepted as to be mainstream, and getting annoyed that people want to act like them. It'd be like if geeks got upset at non-geeks for wanting to get into geek culture due to video games and superheroes becoming more mainstream. The few times some groups have pushed back, they've basically been treated as evil basement dwellers for not wanting icky things like girls in their hobby. And I'll be the first to say that I wouldn't want anyone excluded from our culture on the basis of their gender, race, orientation or whether or by how long they've been into geek stuff. If that person has a genuine interest and is respectful to the folks already here, then by all means, let them in.

But I feel that needs to be case for everyone. The above quote is basically coming out in favor of "cultural appropriation", which I think is something that is pretty much nonsensical. You can be culturally or racially insensitive, as is the case with things like blackface, but the idea that you can appropriate a culture is just stupid. A culture is based on social customs, activities, manners of dress, philosophy, beliefs, etc. None of which intrinsically linked to race. Sure, most cultures start from a central location, the older the culture the more homogeneous the race tends to be, but with the advent of advanced travel methods that's no longer the case. We've got white people who have lived for several generations in Jamacia who have every right to call themselves Jamacian. Likewise, I challenge anyone to say that Idris Elba isn't British just because his family moved there a generation or so before he was born.

Basically, I've never heard an argument for cultural appropriation that didn't sound either like an argument for segregation or some flavor of oppression Olympics.

My main grievance with the 'cultural appropriation' argument is the blinding double standards, for instance white actors playing Egyptian gods in the 'Gods of Egypt' movie was deemed racist and cultural appropriation despite them being mythical, known to be shape-changers and the Egyptians themselves not caring about the movie in any way, yet somehow black actors playing characters from Norse mythology in the Thor movies is perfectly fine and anyone who questions the casting decision is just racist.

Welcome,M4CB,to the club of "Common Sense".*Hands out Club button,shows secret handshake,whispers secret doorway password for entry and gives a copy set of keys to the liquor and firearms cabinets*......

Stay black, y'all.

[Jabroniville]

That's actually really interesting, it reminds me of the 'outrage' from the left here in Britain concerning the Brexit decision, while I didn't vote and probably wouldn't have voted for Brexit I certainly understand why some people did. The immediate demonisation of the yes voters by the liberal left as stupid old racists was unbelievable, they genuinely didn't get that those who have actually been in the workforce, seen the changes both positive and negative to the country and formed their own opinions based on real life experience might have a more informed and therefore different viewpoint to those who have been in full time education and who's views are based on what they've read or have been told.

Quoth Matt Stone: "I hate Conservatives, but man, I really fucking hate Liberals."

What's funny is Matt & Trey got a reputation as Libertarians after a point, given how they constantly attack government interference in people's lives (episodes mock the TSA and airport security after Clyde kills his mother by leaving the toilet seat up). "South Park Republican" became a bit of a term as well. But some actual Libertarians have pointed out that the two are much more nihilistic- I remember Ebert & Roeper reviewing Team America: World Police and finding the movie's moral to be a bad one to send out there- "If you believe in anything, you're an idiot". And that seems to be kind of their point on South Park- to willfully take down all sacred cows, and point out how stupid everything is.

However, they're clever enough, and enjoy life enough, to point out the beauty in the world as well. It's this great mixture of cynicism and sentiment, so it doesn't just ENTIRELY sink into the morass of the world. Immoral people are usually punished, and they'll occasionally hit you right in the guy with something- when my best friend got dumped, the one thing that helped him more than anything was Butters talking about how much he loves life, despite being dumped himself- "I couldn't be this sad if something hadn't made me HAPPY in the first place. So I guess what I'm feeling right now is a kind of BEAUTIFUL sadness, you know?").

[Woodclaw]

That always came off as an extremely weak argument to me. Basically, it's one group complaining that their culture is so accepted as to be mainstream, and getting annoyed that people want to act like them. It'd be like if geeks got upset at non-geeks for wanting to get into geek culture due to video games and superheroes becoming more mainstream. The few times some groups have pushed back, they've basically been treated as evil basement dwellers for not wanting icky things like girls in their hobby. And I'll be the first to say that I wouldn't want anyone excluded from our culture on the basis of their gender, race, orientation or whether or by how long they've been into geek stuff. If that person has a genuine interest and is respectful to the folks already here, then by all means, let them in.

I think there are two side to this argument: on one hand there are cases of people who genuinly didn't understand what a particular cultural stereotype meant until something clicked in their brains and truly and honestly realized that they were a nerd, a jock or whatever else , but they just didn't know it. I mean, I've checked many boes in the closet nerd column myself, but I know people who look every bit as the typical jock stereotype that can easily one-up me on Star Wars lore. We dwelve in stereotypes because thet make our life easy, but the problem is when we have face them and realize that we have to go beyond them.
On the other hand there are those poor souls that are really convinced that their hobby or their social group is some kind of safe haven and that a long list of people must just stay away. To be honest I'm very pissed at these people right now because of some recent events. Anyway the point is that these are those guys who consider female RPG players to be some kind of mythological beast (I've GMed tables of 5 female players), who exclude any potential omosexual reference from their D&D game (except those ages olds jokes about elves) and so on and so forth.

But I feel that needs to be case for everyone. The above quote is basically coming out in favor of "cultural appropriation", which I think is something that is pretty much nonsensical. You can be culturally or racially insensitive, as is the case with things like blackface, but the idea that you can appropriate a culture is just stupid. A culture is based on social customs, activities, manners of dress, philosophy, beliefs, etc. None of which intrinsically linked to race. Sure, most cultures start from a central location, the older the culture the more homogeneous the race tends to be, but with the advent of advanced travel methods that's no longer the case. We've got white people who have lived for several generations in Jamacia who have every right to call themselves Jamacian. Likewise, I challenge anyone to say that Idris Elba isn't British just because his family moved there a generation or so before he was born.

Basically, I've never heard an argument for cultural appropriation that didn't sound either like an argument for segregation or some flavor of oppression Olympics.

I can only think of one case where the words cultural appropriation are acceptable: when the beliefs and ideas of an entire group or ethnicity are twisted by others to their own means. It has happened in history time and again, sometimes in a semi-acceptable to make the integration between different culture smoother (the Romans were masters at this) sometimes it was a tool for oppression (there are some readings about the psychological techniques used by slave traders to twist the beliefs of slaves from Africa against them that are truly chilling). This, I believe is the only case ever were such a term might be used correctly. In many other situations I can think about misrepresentation (intentional or not), questionable choices, lack of research or some other problem, but not cultural appropriation.

[Jabroniville]

re: the casting thing- I mainly find the "cast of generic white people" thing a bit dull sometimes, so I don't mind some mixing it up for certain movies. Having Egyptian Gods and the Prince of Persia all be noticeably white people was pretty silly, but like... ONE of them could have been. Thor having Idris Elba and that Asian dude didn't bug me because it kept the cast looking more interesting, and they cast good actors- plus, they're like aliens and stuff. If they were ENTIRELY the "incorrect" race for their worshippers, it'd be weird, but you can get away with making a fifth-tier Marvel character a black or asian guy.

Plus, in both of these cases, the CENTRAL issue is that non-whites had a harder time getting cast in Hollywood, and minority audiences are very, VERY used to not seeing anyone like them on the screen. Which is a recurring issue that is fairly complex. On one hand, America is mostly white, so the audiences & casts would be expected to be similar. On the OTHER hand, it's not fair that production after production only checks one box in the racial categories, with only one or two "token black people" able to get roles at any given time in Hollywood (almost every "Should have been" black star suffered from this). So by casting a bunch of obscure-ass white actors as Egyptian Gods, you're preventing actors of varying ethnicities from taking ANY of those jobs. Now, I'm not asking that people make Western Movies starring a Disney Fairies-like assortment of ethnicities, but like... where it makes sense or doesn't matter (ie. who cares if Heimdall is black?)? Cast away.



PS I was gonna be all "UGH, I can't believe there's ANOTHER political/PC debate in my thread", but this is literally one of the most politically-tinged shows on the air, and I haven't even posted PC Principal yet . It's part of what would have made posting South Park builds on the Green Ronin site a really, REALLY bad idea. That and the fact that posting "Black Physiology" for all the black characters and any of Cartman's Complications would have gotten me warnings out the ass .

[kirinke]

Just the mention of South Park would have probably given you a warning.

[Jabroniville]

Just the mention of South Park would have probably given you a warning.

Given how they STILL send threatening posts to people for various imaginary infractions, I can believe it. I'd make a mention of them and having Fildrigar popping up with red text "JUST A REMINDER TO FOLLOW ALL OF THE RULES AND READ OUR TERMS OF USE".

[kirinke]

Lol. Well they have to keep the site from imploding and since the ahh incident, they're probably even more twitchy. So it's understandable, even if a bit annoying for some.

[DominusExMachina]

Lol. Well they have to keep the site from imploding and since the ahh incident, they're probably even more twitchy. So it's understandable, even if a bit annoying for some.

What "ahh" incident are you talking about?

[kirinke]

The one that led to the creation of this site and almost shut down the Green-Ronnin forums.

[DominusExMachina]

The one that led to the creation of this site and almost shut down the Green Ronin forums.

No offense, but you're gonna have to be a little more specific...