Character Sample

The character project aims to standardize the formatting and layout of character pages on South Park Archives. This is a general guideline that should walk editors through the process of writing a good character article.

Craig Tucker will be our sample character for the character guideline.

In the article opening, we should give a general character outline, such as the following sentence:


 * Craig's first appearance was in "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" as a background character, he made his first speaking appearance in "Rainforest Schmainforest".

The character's name and any aliases should be bolded on first mention. Also note the quotes around episode names. It is also permissible to reiterate the character's first appearance in this paragraph even though it's already stated in the character template.

In the character template, fill out as much information as you can back up. If you don't know something, leave it blank. Things like age can be estimated. For example, say we didn't know Craig's age, we can estimate his age to be 9-10 based on the fact the other boys are 10 and that his height is visually similar to the other boys. We would then set his age as "Unknown; likely 9-10".

Appearance
Our first required section will be appearance. This section will describe the character's physical appearance in detail and contain a small gallery at the bottom. If the gallery reaches an unmanageable size, it can be split off into a discrete gallery sub-page, "Character Name/Gallery" (for example, Kenny McCormick/Gallery). Note, there should be a blank line before the section header, this allows users who edit by source to easily differentiate between sections.

Our example appearance section is as follows:


 * Craig can usually be seen wearing his black pants and blue jacket with dark blue buttons and collar. He always wears his trademark blue chullo hat with a yellow puff ball on top.

The gallery should have image widths of 120px and should have a main caption called "Images of Character Name". Each of the pictures should have a short descriptive caption. If the picture is a promotional picture or a screenshot from an episode, the relevant episode should be linked to. Each episode needs to be linked to once, and only once, in the gallery. Captions should be aligned to the left. Pictures from episodes should come after official pictures from places such as South Park Studios. A link to the source should also be contained in the caption.

Note, the main focus of the picture must be on the character, meaning a bulk of the picture should contain the character. Images not meeting this criteria (group shots, for example) should not be included.

Additional pictures can also be placed throughout the article in order to illustrate or further elucidate a point. For example, a picture of Craig flipping someone off could be used to illustrate Craig's personality in the Personality section. In the Relationships section (see below), a picture of Craig interacting with the character in question may also be desirable. A short descriptive caption linking the picture to the article is necessary.

Remember not to clutter up the article with too many pictures. We generally only place a picture in a section if there is sufficient body text to make sure that it does not spill over into subsequent sections or begin to stack up. If two pictures are necessary in a single section, you may consider aligning them on opposite sides of the page (left/right) in order to save space. Pictures are generally around 200px, but dimensions may be adjusted for aesthetics.

A quick reminder, the markup for a typical picture is:

Personality
Here we will discuss the character's personality. Information describing his ego and how he or she reacts to adverse situations belong here. There are very few characters that cannot be accurately described. If you're having trouble, think about things such as how they would react to Eric Cartman's bigotry - if they react in anger, we can assume that it bothers them, therefore, we can assume that they are a person with a strong moral center. Observations of the character's behavior can also be used to gauge their personality.

Using Craig as an example, he is usually receptive to Cartman's bigotry; for example, he began to act out against gingers in "Ginger Kids" after seeing Cartman's presentation. He is also seen bullying other kids in "Hooked on Monkey Phonics" and "South Park Is Gay!", implying that he does not have a particularly strong moral center.

He is also portrayed as competitive and rivals the main four boys in numerous episodes ("South Park is Gay!", "Good Times with Weapons", "Quest for Ratings"). However, in later episodes, he appears to have developed into a pragmatist, attempting to avoid trouble rather than seek it out in "Pandemic" and advising Jimmy to yield to Cartman's demands in "Fishsticks".

Family
We should include an objective description of the character's relationship with his or her family members here. Any significant interactions and other relevant information should be documented. For example, Craig is shown flipping off the other members of his family in "Craig vs. Tweek", but his parents are later shown to be extremely concerned when he goes missing in "Pandemic".

Relationships
We should place an objective description of the subject character's relationship with other characters here. This includes any notable interactions that they may have had with the character in question. For example, that Craig had a fight with Tweek Tweak in "Craig vs. Tweek" is significant, and should thus be documented under the relevant heading, in this case "Relationship with Tweek Tweak".

Some extrapolation is permissible, but only to a reasonable extent - Although Craig had a fight with Tweek, in later episodes they are often seen together; we can thus extrapolate that they reconciled at some point and are now on good terms, even if this was not explicitly stated on the show. An example of unreasonable extrapolation would be, "Craig and Kenny are seen holding hands in "Super Fun Time", they are thus probably secretly in love and bonking behind the lockers." That is wrong on several levels.

Quotes
We can place relevant quotes in the quotes section. Remember to be prudent when adding examples - quotes sections should enhance the reader's understanding of the character, they should not be treated as a repository for randomly selected lines. Irrelevant lines and long dialogue exchanges are thus to be avoided; only lines that are highly memorable or that encapsulate the character's personality should be included. Memorable catchphrases can also be included under the quotes section.

For example, Craig's line "Yep. And if I had wheels I'd be a wagon." (from "Fishsticks") is both memorable and immediately captures Craig's pragmatic practicality, thus being worthy of inclusion; the line "I'm clean! I knew I didn't have any stupid lice!" (from "Lice Capades") does not enhance the reader's understanding of Craig's personality or role in the show and should thus be omitted. Long dialogue exchanges (especially those that contain more lines from other characters than the article's subject) should also be avoided unless they are especially significant.

Quotes are to be in the following form:
 * Craig: "Yep. And if I had wheels I'd be a wagon." from "Fishsticks".
 * Craig to The Boys: "See, this is why bad things always happen to you. Because when you come across an ancient, spooky ruin, you say, 'Let's check it out'." from "Pandemic 2: The Startling".
 * Craig: "He's the luckiest kid in the world. If I could say 'shitballs' to the principal, I would be soooo happy." from "Le Petit Tourette".

Reception
A non-subjective summary of how the character was received by the audience can also be included. That Craig received considerable praise in the media for acting as a sarcastic counterpoint to the antics of the boys in the two-part "Pandemic" arc is an example of information that we could include under this section.

It should be noted that the vast majority of background characters do not require a reception section.

Trivia
We can put any miscellaneous information that does not fit under any other headings here. Individual trivia entries are marked with bullets.
 * A green version of Craig can be seen waiting in line at Cartman Burger in "Ass Burgers". It is possible that this was Craig wearing another set of clothes, or another character altogether.
 * Craig might have a cat, as his sister was seen holding one in "Major Boobage".

Prominence
In this section, we would list episodes the character was most prominent in and a brief description of the role they played. If the character is prominent in a majority of the episodes, we would track absences instead of prominence. A good general rule of thumb would be to pick the category that would make for a shorter list. There is no sense in tracking absences if the character only appears in one episode.
 * "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" - Craig's debut; he is seen singing "We Wish you a Merry Christmas". He can be seen in the second row, third column. Also appears outside Mr. Mackey's office, and continues to do so each time it appears.
 * "City on the Edge of Forever" - Craig falls out a window of the school bus in a dream.
 * "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!" - Seen in the Nebraska mall.
 * "Rainforest Schmainforest" - Craig gets sent to Mr. Mackey's office for repeatedly flipping people off. First use of Craig as a secondary character.