Tweek Tweak

Tweek Tweak, voiced by Matt Stone, is a fictional character in the animated series South Park. Even though he is not one of the five main characters (Stan, Kyle, Kenny, Cartman and Butters), he used to be in season six from "Professor Chaos" to "Child Abduction is Not Funny" and was the second replacement for Kenny after his "permanent" death. It should be noted that all of the fourth friends all had blond hair.

Character
Tweek Tweak is a jittery nine year old boy, addicted to caffeine and suffers from ADD. He seems to have very bad anxiety caused by constantly drinking so much caffeine - especially at such a young age (one person even thought he was a crackhead). He is always seen shaking, twitching and looking around frantically. He constantly feels like he's "under pressure", and freaks out whenever he is asked to do even the simplest tasks and jumps or yells whenever someone comes up to him to talk to him. He tends to scream at the end of his sentences. It should also be noted that he only shakes and twitches after he talks or is the main focus of the scene; when seen in the backround he stands still, and is seen talking normally for extended periods of time

Appearance
Tweek has blond hair in a spiky design looking as if he just rolled out of bed, wears a green shirt buttoned incorrectly, and blue jeans. As revealed in "Tweek vs. Craig", he weighs 48 pounds. In "Gnomes", his physical appearance was slightly different than in the more recent episodes. Instead of a green collar, he had a black one, and his jeans were also much darker than in later episodes.

Name
The character's name, "Tweek", is derived from the term "tweeker", a term used to refer to people who recreationally use crystal methamphetamines, or to people who exhibit a high level of stress or anxiety. Originally, Tweek's surname was spelled as "Tweek", implying that, similarly to Eric Cartman, he was called by his last name. However, in later episodes, his surname was changed to "Tweak", though his father's name tag still reads "Richard Tweek". In the official South Park site's FAQ section, it was verified that the character's name is "Tweek Tweak".

Caffeine addiction and ADD
Tweek's parents own a coffee shop, called "Tweek Bros. Coffee", and they continually supply Tweek with coffee. He has become addicted to the beverage, and has high caffeine levels in his system; making him extremely jittery and paranoid.

Tweek's parents are oblivious to the fact that he is overdosed on caffeine, believing his shakiness to be brought on by Attention Deficit Disorder, although ADD would not cause shakiness, but merely a short attention span (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, would cause jitteriness). Interestingly, despite his parent's beliefs, Tweek goes with the other kids to be tested for ADD in "Timmy 2000". Believing his parent's claims, Tweek tries to control his "ADD" with Transcendental meditation, and sees a psychiatrist, Dr. Norris, who tells him to "find his center", as a way of calming himself. However, when he expresses his stress, his parents attempt to calm him with coffee, thereby increasing the level of caffeine in his system and worsening his mental state.

The staff at the official South Park website have stated that together with his addiction to coffee, Tweek does indeed have ADD, along with various learning disabilities. However, coffee is sometimes used as an alternative treatment for ADD/ADHA symptoms, as caffeine, like other stimulants, actually calms those who suffer from ADD/ADHA, which might explain why Tweek's parents constantly supply him with coffee, believing it will help to calm him down.

In the episode "Gnomes", Tweek tells the other boys that he can never get to sleep, presumably brought on by his excessive consumption of coffee, although he is shown sleeping in the episode "Child Abduction is Not Funny".

Tweek's hyperactivity lead one of Steven Spielberg's bodyguards to believe he was addicted to cocaine, in the season six episode "Free Hat".

Tweek has been shown to have other addictions, besides coffee. In "Quest for Ratings", it is revealed that he fell in with a crowd of kids who were excessively consuming cough syrup.

Family
The parents tend either to oversimplify or to overexaggerate large problems, leading their son to frustrated helplessness when he requires aid or to increased paranoia and fear when he's already obsessing about something. Simply put, whatever Tweek's current abnormal and/or neurotic disposition, his parents serve to aggravate it. Even Eric Cartman seems somewhat concerned about Tweek's condition; when Tweek's newest paranoia takes effect (which was being abducted by strangers) Cartman comments "God, what the hell do his parents do to him?" In "Tweek vs. Craig" Tweek even yells that his parents never tell him anything, that he hates it and that he wants it all to end while his parents ignore him. In addition, his parents regularly joke about selling him into slavery, which only adds to his stress levels.

Friends
Despite having a feud with Craig Tucker in "Tweek vs. Craig", the two seem to be friends. Tweek is the character who is the fourth friend in Craig's group most often. 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. In "South Park is Gay!" he was in Craig's group as a metrosexual - evidently they made up after their fight (probably because everyone admitted they'd set them up).

After the episode "Gnomes", it can be assumed that Tweek became good friends with the boys, since they choose him above all the other kids to be their fourth friend in the episode "Professor Chaos". In "Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society", when the boys decide they have to make room for Bebe in their group, Kyle and Stan defend Tweek and kick Cartman out instead. Tweek is never kicked out of the group like Butters was, but he slowly shifts back into Craig's group and leaves the boys behind.

Cartman has nothing against Tweek (even electing to replace Kyle instead of Tweek initially when they wanted to let Bebe in the group in "Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society"), but Tweek seems to dislike Cartman. Presumably because in "Free Hat", Cartman pressured Tweek to make hats and warned him to start trying to shape up or else he would be kicked out of hanging with the boys. Later on in the episode, Kyle, Stan, and Cartman are held hostage by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas - Tweek comes to save them wielding a bazooka, saying, "All I want are my friends!", Cartman seems touched until Tweek adds, "Except for Cartman, you can keep him."

Trivia

 * In episode "Gnomes", his parents' coffee shop went out of business because 'Harbucks', a parody of the Starbucks coffee shop chain, opened a shop in South Park, though his father was hired to manage Harbucks.
 * Whenever Tweek is told to do something, he responds by saying, "Aaagh! Way too much pressure!" Tweek seemed to practice fatalism in episode "Free Hat".
 * Tweek was worshiped as a deity in the episode "Simpsons Already Did It", though he wasn't pleased about it. All his followers were quickly killed in conflict with Cartman's followers.
 * Tweek speaks fluent Mongolian (as do Stan and Cartman) which he puts to use when he talks to the Mongolian warriors he lives with for a short time in "Child Abduction is Not Funny."
 * Tweek is an unlockable character in South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play. His special ability is him running faster and killing anything he runs into for 5 secs.
 * At IGN.com, Tweek is ranked #8 in Dan Iverson & Brian Zoromski's "Top 10 South Park Peripheral Characters".
 * Although Tweek rarely speaks in-series, he's been popular with fans since his debut, and became part of the boys' group partially due to fan popularity - there was a movement for Tweek to replace Butters before "Professor Chaos" even aired. As a result, despite the temporary "fourth friend" slot normally being associated with Butters, Tweek actually filled it for longer.
 * In the game "South Park Let´s Go Tower Defense Play!" you can see that Tweek was ejected from the group of not paying enough attention to their friends to be nervous and be hunting gnomes.

Website
At www.southparkstudios.com, Tweek can be selected from the character profiles. From there, the various features - such as popularity and number of appearences - can be accessed.

Quotes

 * "Oh man, this/that is way too much pressure!"
 * "Gah!"
 * "Oh Jesus!"
 * "Ahhh!"
 * "They're going to get me!"
 * "I'm not a chicken!"
 * "I'm not a team player!"
 * "They're taking my underpants!"
 * "They took my underpants, soon they'll want my blood!"
 * "I pulled out my hair!"
 * "Maybe they wanna kill us!"
 * "Eeek!"
 * "Hammertime!!"

Prominence and Speaking Appearances
Although Tweek doesn't have as much speaking roles in an average episode as other secondary characters such as Craig and Clyde, in most of the episodes in which he is prominent, he is a major character. In the episodes "Simpsons Already Did It", "Red Hot Catholic Love", "Free Hat", "Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society", and "Child Abduction is Not Funny", he replaces Kenny as the fourth friend. Following the episode "Child Abduction is Not Funny", Tweek stopped appearing as the fourth friend, due primarily to Kenny's re-introduction, first as a spirit sharing Cartman's body, and later when he inexplicably just showed up again.

Speaking Appearances in chronological order

 * "Gnomes"
 * "Tweek vs. Craig"
 * "Sexual Harassment Panda"
 * "4th Grade "
 * "Proper Condom Use "
 * "Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants "
 * "Professor Chaos"
 * "Simpsons Already Did It"
 * "Red Hot Catholic Love"
 * "Free Hat"
 * "Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society"
 * "Child Abduction is Not Funny"
 * "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers "
 * "The Death Camp of Tolerance "
 * "Red Man's Greed "
 * "Quest For Ratings"
 * "Free Willzyx "
 * "Make Love, Not Warcraft"
 * "Hell on Earth 2006"
 * "Eat, Pray, Queef "
 * "Butter's Bottom Bitch "
 * "201"