Craig Tucker

Craig Tucker, voiced by Matt Stone, is a character in South Park. He is a secondary character who attends South Park Elementary, in the same 4th grade class as the main characters Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, Kenny McCormick and Butters Stotch. Craig's identifying physical feature is his blue chullo hat (topped with a yellow puffball), while his most recognizable personality trait is his tendency to display his middle finger at other characters, even if it's for no reason. Originally 8 years old in the early seasons of the series, the character's age progressed to 9 in the 4th season, when he and his classmates moved from 3rd grade to 4th. As of the 12th season episode "Pandemic 2: The Startling", the character is ten years old. This is proven by the 10 birthday candles on his cake in one of the pictures shown of his birthday which is January 25th, making him the oldest in South Park's 4th Grade Class.

Craig lives in the fictional town of South Park, Colorado, with his mother and father, his younger sister, and his pet guinea pig, Stripe. He is the leader of a gang of schoolboys who rival against the main characters, whom Craig has frequently expressed a strong dislike for, and throughout the series' run.

Appearance
Craig wears a blue jacket and a matching blue chullo hat with a yellow puffball on top. In the early seasons of the series, he wore blue jeans, but in more recent seasons he wears high-wasted black pants, making him look taller and his legs look longer than the other children's. Craig's hair was shown to be short and black in "South Park is Gay!", although it was brown in "The Losing Edge". In "Lice Capades", Craig has black hair again. If you look closely at his anime version in "Good Times with Weapons" you'll be able to see that Craig's eyes are blue. It is revealed in "Tweek vs. Craig" that he is fairly thin, weighing only 45 pounds.

In "Quest for Ratings", when Craig's school program is canceled, the teacher orders him to be castrated. It is never specified nor brought up again whether or not he actually went through with it.

Personality
Craig is implied to have bad behavior, and is referred to as "the biggest trouble-maker" in his class by Eric Cartman in "Tweek vs. Craig". Craig has a habit of flipping people off, whether to express disdain towards them or not; a trait the official South Park website states is learned from his family, who are all seen flipping each other off in "Tweek vs. Craig". Due to this habit, he is frequently sent to Mr. Mackey's office. Often scenes involving a character visiting Mr. Mackey's office show Craig sitting in the waiting seats outside the door.

He seems to be one of the most stoic, gloomiest kids from his class, having a darker personality than the rest of the characters, being pragmatic, monotone and ironic. In the early episodes, he had a blank face, most of the time, especially when he was flipping people off and he appeared to be indifferent to those who tried to interact with him. Usually, if he doesn't have a blank face, he is seen frowning.

During the "Pandemic" episodes, he constantly made snide remarks about Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny and about their habit of getting into trouble. However, at the end of the episode after he accidentally walked on the platform and stopped the "Guinea Pirate", he simply let out a deep sigh and accepted his fate. Craig has notable leadership skills, as he is the leader of a gang who are social rivals with Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny. The first appearance of the group is in "Tweek vs. Craig", and they are first acknowledged by the main characters in "How to Eat with Your Butt". The main characters are first shown viewing Craig's gang as rivals in "South Park is Gay!". Cartman frequently refers to the gang as "Craig and those guys". The group usually consists of Craig, Clyde, Token, and sometimes Tweek, Jimmy, or Jason. Craig and Clyde seem to share/alternate in leadership of their group, although, given by their designation, Craig is the primary leader.

Another example of Craig's abilities in leadership occurs in "Hooked on Monkey Phonics", when he leads the male students in their plan to harm Mark Cotswolds. The episode also shows that his assertiveness can also lead to bullying.

Craig often seems more competitive towards the main characters than even his gang (see below). In "Quest for Ratings", he opens a television show in the school entitled "Animals Close-Up With a Wide-Angle Lens", which rivals against their news show. On the other extreme, he seems eager to help them at other times, as in "Free Willzyx", where he is one of the boys trying to get the orca back to it's "home" on the moon.

Mysterion
Craig is also a candidate to be Mysterion, a rival superhero to The Coon, played by Eric Cartman. Craig's leadership skills, the parallel created between him and Stan and the similarities of the voices make Craig a plausible candidate. However, Craig likes things that are "Nice and boring" as revealed in "Pandemic 2: The Startling", so saving the town from crime on a daily basis may not appeal to him.

Family
Craig's first name indicates that he is of Scottish descent, and his surname, Tucker, suggests English ancestry.

Parents Thomas and Mrs. Tucker
In "Here Comes the Neighborhood", as Token is walking around South Park, looking sorrowfully at the others, he walks past the Welfare office. Craig and his parents are shown stepping out of the office at the same time. While Token may have been exaggerating in his thoughts about how poor everyone else in town is, this might imply that Craig's parents are jobless, or that their jobs don't provide enough income for them to get by on it alone.

It is hinted in "My Future Self n' Me" that he does not have a good relationship with his parents. He also states in "Tweek vs. Craig" that he does not care if his mother is insulted. At the same time, his parents are shown to love him deeply, as they are each openly concerned when Craig is kidnapped in "Pandemic", and are delighted to have him back at the end of "Pandemic 2: The Startling".

Thomas Tucker, Craig's father, closely resembles Skeeter, a frequently seen townsperson. The main differences in their appearance are that Thomas is taller, has a rounder face, and is balding. This resemblance might imply a relation, possibly that of siblings. If so, Rebecca, Skeeter's daughter and one of Craig's female classmates, would also be his cousin.

Stripe
Craig has a pet guinea pig named Stripe. Stripe has never made an onscreen appearance, and all that is known about him is that Craig does not like it when he is insulted. Knowing this, Cartman riles Craig up in "Tweek vs. Craig" by telling him that Tweek said Craig stuffs Stripe up his rectum before going to bed.

Craig's Sister
Little is known about his sister, her name is Ruby and the relationship between her and Craig is difficult to find out. Ruby has apparently inherited the family trademark of flipping people off.

Craig's Grandmother
Craig's grandmother, who appears in flashbacks in "Pandemic 2: The Startling", gave Craig $100 for his birthday.

Friendship with Tweek Tweak
In "Tweek vs. Craig", the boys, on account of a bet they had made, claimed to Tweek and Craig that each had insulted the other, and convinced them to fight. When it turned out neither of them knew how to fight, they had them trained for it. Craig was trained by Cartman, in Sumo wrestling. After the fight, both boys were hospitalized, but the kids fooled them into fighting again.

In the later seasons, they have been shown to stop hating each other, as Tweek is a regular member of Craig's gang. Tweek is the person used most to fill in the spot of the gang's fourth friend. Since Clyde and Token are best friends, many fans see Tweek and Craig as being best friends as well. Tweek and Craig can be seen standing side by side in various episodes including "Ginger Kids", where they are trapped in a cage together, and in "The Wacky Molestation Adventure", where they are on the same side of the town. Tweek and Craig can also be seen sitting together at school assemblies (one exception being "Canada on Strike" ). This implies that they are close friends, similar to Stan and Kyle.

Friendship with Token Black
Token has always been a member of Craig's gang (even when Clyde and Jimmy aren't present) and the two are often seen next to each other. However, the two haven't actually been heard talking. Token is more connected to Clyde, however. It seems that Craig mostly hangs out with Token and Clyde.

Friendship with Clyde Donovan
Clyde is a member of Craig's gang. Clyde sometimes leads the group which suggests that he and Craig share the spot of the leader, but the position has been confirmed to be Craig as the group is collectively named "Craig and those other guys". It seems that Craig mostly hangs out with Clyde and Token.

Eric Cartman
Cartman appears to view Craig as a friend the same way he views Jimmy. Craig actually hates Cartman, but he has been seen with him as a right-hand man when Cartman assembles a group of boys for his cause, like in "Lice Capades". Craig is often the main rival of Cartman and the other boys, but sometimes has seemed to accept Stan, Kyle and Kenny in some episodes such as "The Death of Eric Cartman". Also, in the episode "Tsst", Cartman confronts Craig and asks him if he can stay at his place for a while; Craig refuses and blatantly says, "But I hate you". Sometimes this hatred isn't always against Cartman. In the episode "South Park is Gay!", Craig and his gang seem to be rivals with Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman. Craig is aware of Cartman's assertive, selfish, and manipulative nature, as well as the fact that Cartman will always get what he wants in one way or another. This is shown in "Fishsticks" where he argued to Jimmy that "You should be lucky that he (Cartman) is only asking for half." and "Just, give him half."

Kenny McCormick
Craig and Kenny seem to have formed a friendship. Kenny helped Craig with his show in "Quest for Ratings" (although it was induced by Cartman saying that Kenny couldn't join the school news team due to his poverty), and the two were partners in "Super Fun Time". They are not shown as being closer friends than Kenny is to any of the main boys, however. In the episode "Lice Capades" he accuses Kenny of having lice, and is the first to restrain him. In "Pandemic 2: The Startling", Kenny is heard saying, "I fucking hate Craig!" at the end (this could have been because how Craig reacted to the situation in that episode and "Pandemic").

Jimmy Valmer
Jimmy has been Craig's friend on a few occasions and can be seen at times along with Craig's group. He has been seen hanging around Craig in the background for other episodes as well. In "Fishsticks", he claims he likes Jimmy and tries to reason with him in order to help him out. In "Ginger Kids", Jimmy is seen along with Clyde, Token and Craig bullying a ginger kid out of the school cafeteria. In "Good Times with Weapons", Jimmy rivals Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny as ninja's along with Craig, Clyde and Token.

Kevin Stoley
Kevin has been seen in the background talking to Craig many times. This suggests that the two are friends.

Jason
Jason has been in Craig's gang on one occasion, but has not been seen with Craig since "South Park is Gay!".

Thomas
In "Le Petit Tourette", Craig meets Thomas at the end and asks if he can hang out with him and "do his laundry". However, it is unknown if the two are even friends as Thomas hasn't been seen since this episode and the two haven't been seen together on screen.

Trivia

 * Craig is the oldest boy in his grade, being 10 compared to everyone else being 8 to 9.
 * It is said by Eric Cartman that Craig has "messed up teeth". It is unknown if this is true or not.
 * Craig likes a show called "Red Racer". This is most likely a play on the show "Speed Racer".
 * Craig, or an uncanny lookalike, can be seen rioting with the children at the Nebraska mall in "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!"
 * In "Le Petit Tourette" Craig is jealous of Cartman and expresses it by saying "If I could say (whatever Cartman said before) to (whoever Cartman said it to), I would be soooooooo happy." In "Pandemic 2", Craig says "Last week was my Birthday. My grandma gave me a check for a hundred dollars. I was soooooooo happy." Later on in that episode he says "...as for me, I was returned home by homeland security. My parents were soooooooo happy." This could be a minor catchphrase of his.
 * Craig is also a fan of Lord of the Rings as seen in the season 6 episode "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers", where he was taking the role as Boromir from the movie, when Cartman had said that the sixth graders can't stand water, Craig thought it was stupid and decided that he would go back to the Harry Potter kids instead to play with them (along with the kindergartner Filmore who was taking the role of Gimli the Dwarf).
 * Craig might have a cat, because his sister was holding one in Major Boobage. Craig is also seen sitting to talk to the guidance counselor which is a sign that he might have some issues.

Reception
In his review on the South Park episode "Fishsticks", Sean O'Neal of the A.V. club refers to the character Craig as a "pragmatist", for advising Jimmy Vulmer to let Eric Cartman have half the credit for the fishsticks joke. DC Perry of 411mania.com approved of Craig "letting the air out of the usual 'Crazy Crap Just Happens to Us' formula" used in most of the South Park storylines, throughout the episodes "Pandemic" and "Pandemic 2: The Startling". Perry was also pleased that the character "got to shine for more than random flip-offs" and "didn't even have to try". Travis Fickett of IGN.com described Craig's role as a supporting character in "Pandemic", as well as the character's expression of disdain for the main characters' habit of getting into "stupid schemes, without thinking twice about the possible ramifications", as being the few highlights of the episode, which he found mostly unentertaining.

Quotes

 * "You know what stuff happens to most kids? They fall off their bikes. They get in fights with their parents. They get swindled out of their birthday money." (Season 12, Episode 11 "Pandemic 2 - The Startling")
 * "He's the luckiest kid in the world. If I could say 'shitballs' to the principal, I would be soooo happy." (Season 11, Episode 8 "Le Petit Tourette")
 * "Do you guys know why nobody else at school likes hanging out with you? Because you're always doing stuff like this. You're always coming up with some stupid idea to do something, and then it backfires, and then you end up in some foreign country, or in outer space or something. That's why no one likes hanging out with you guys." (Season 12, Episode 10 "Pandemic")
 * Craig: "I'm being a dick." Stan: "Yes" Craig: "You guys took my birthday money, got me arrested and sent to Miami with no way home except to take down the country of Peru and I'm being a dick." (Season 12, Episode 10 "Pandemic")
 * "[...] Well I thought I was crazy! He said my dad was going to sneak into my room naked one night and beat me up." (Season 9, Episode 13 "Free Willzyx")
 * "Was there ever a moment when you guys first came up with the genius plan to become a Peruvian flute band that any of you said; Hey, you know? This plan might backfire." [long silent pause] "No, that never occurred to you. Because you guys are jerks. And you never learn from your mistakes. And that's why everyone at school thinks you guys are assholes." (Season 12, Episode 10 "Pandemic")
 * "Yup, nice and boring. Just the way I like it." (Season 12, Episode 11 "Pandemic 2 - The Startling")
 * "Oh yeah?! We're super duper triple-dog gay!" (Season 7, Episode 8 "South Park is Gay")
 * "I'm not just gay, I'm a catamite!" (Season 7, Episode 8 "South Park is Gay")
 * "This ass is unlike any I've encountered, Master!" (Season 3, Episode 5 "Tweek vs. Craig")
 * "Yup, and if I had wheels, I'd be a wagon..." (Season 13, Episode 5 "Fishsticks")
 * "You really don't think they'd put a fat tub of lard at the bottom?" (Season 11, Episode 14 "The List")
 * "Come on, fags. [snaps fingers]" (Season 7, Episode 8 "South Park is Gay")


 * Craig: "I am not following you guys anymore..." Kyle: "And how are you gonna do that?" Craig: "It's easy.... Watch..." [walks away] (Season 12, Episode 11 "Pandemic 2 - The Startling")
 * Mr. Mackey: "Did you just flip me off Craig?" Craig: "No." Mr. Mackey: "Yes you did, you just flipped me the bird! [...] Uh, there! You just flipped me off again!" Craig: "No I didn't." Mr. Mackey: "Yes you did!" (Season 3, Episode 1 "Rainforest Schmainforest")
 * "Look! It's the butch boy!" (Season 7, Episode 8 "South Park is Gay")
 * "Listen sir, I am not going to ruin your plans. I'll just walk away... see?" [walks away and steps onto a platform that makes sparks shoot out of his eyes] "Okay... there's sparks shooting out of my eyes..." (Season 12, Episode 11 "Pandemic 2 - The Startling")
 * "Yeah... don't just 'Oh' me!" (Season 3, Episode 5 "Tweek vs. Craig")
 * Cartman: "Hey, you can watch Red Racer everyday of the week!" Craig: "I do watch Red Racer everyday of the week!" (Season 3, Episode 5 "Tweek vs. Craig")

Prominence
At the beginning of the series, Craig was an unnamed background character, usually seen in the playground at South Park Elementary or sitting outside Mr. Mackey's office. In season 3, he was reintroduced as a secondary character, and his first name was revealed. From season 3 on, Craig's character was gradually expanded upon, and his role in the series gradually increased. The character was given his own episode/s in the two-part "Pandemic" story.


 * Rainforest Schmainforest - Craig gets sent to Mr. Mackey's office for repeatedly flipping people off. First use of Craig as a secondary character.
 * Spontaneous Combustion- Craig attends the church for the boy's easter play to see Jesus rise from the cross.
 * Tweek vs. Craig - Craig is fooled into the challenge of fighting Tweek, and vice versa.
 * Sexual Harassment Panda - Craig successfully sues Wendy for sexual harassment after she touches his thigh.
 * Hooked on Monkey Phonics - Craig leads the other boys, and directs them on what to do about Mark Cotswolds.
 * The Wacky Molestation Adventure - Craig, wearing a spaceman helmet, directs the couple to Treasure Cove, where they'll find a phone.
 * How to Eat with Your Butt - Craig and his gang are invited over by Stan and Kyle to see the Thompsons, who have buttocks where their heads should be. First mention of Craig's gang.
 * Professor Chaos - Craig is a candidate for the boys' fourth friend.
 * South Park is Gay - Craig and his gang are in conflict with the main characters because they insist that they're gayer.
 * Good Times with Weapons - Craig and his gang play "ninjas" with the main characters.
 * Quest for Ratings - Craig's show, Animals Close Up With a Wide-Angle Lens, is crushing the boys' [minus Kenny, but with an extended gang] news show.
 * Free Willzyx - Craig and Stan search in Mexico for a cheap space program.
 * Smug Alert! - Craig, Token, and Clyde confront Cartman at his "Goodbye, Kyle" party and ask him why Kyle isn't there.
 * Tsst - Craig tells Cartman he hates him and slams the door in his face.
 * Lice Capades - Craig works as Cartman's right-hand man in the investigation on who has lice. He also has many lines in this episode.
 * Le Petit Tourette - Craig, believing Cartman to have Tourette's Syndrome, is miserably jealous of him because he gets away with saying terrible things about people.
 * Guitar Queer-o - Craig is among the boys who are in the background for the episode [His gang, Cartman, Kenny etc].
 * The List - Craig is among the secondary fourth graders [Token, Clyde, Bebe, etc.] who have a small part in the episode. He was twelfth on the first list, but it is hinted by Bebe that he was placed very high on the real list.
 * Super Fun Time - Craig is Kenny's partner on the field trip.
 * Pandemic - Craig joins with the boys to perform in a pan flute band to make easy money. This plan backfires, however, and the five are sent all the way to Peru. He is angry that the boys wasted his birthday money, and constantly complains about how they swindled him out of his money, which irritates the boys. However, he is the only one who can stop the Furry Death.
 * Pandemic 2: The Startling - Complains about the situation. Defeats the Guinea Pirate and stops the Furry Death.
 * Fishsticks - Craig tries to convince Jimmy to simply just let Cartman take credit for 50% of the Fish Sticks joke.
 * Butter's Bottom Bitch - Craig was shown helping Cartman throw a ball in Butters' face.