The Boys

The Boys is a group consisting of Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny. Earlier episodes usually opened with an establishing shot of the boys standing at the Bus Stop. They are also referred to as "Children" by Chef.

After Kenny's death, Cartman, Stan and Kyle first replaced him with Butters for the first five episodes of Season Six. In "Professor Chaos" the boys hold a contest spoofing The Bachelor, and settle on replacing him with Tweek until "Child Abduction is Not Funny". Kenny permanently reappears in "Red Sleigh Down". Other boys in the 4th Grade (or the 3rd Grade, in the first three seasons) are usually included as part of the extended gang.

Eric Cartman
Cartman is obese. He wears a red jacket, yellow gloves, a blue hat with a yellow puffball on top, brown pants, black shoes, and white socks. He sometimes wears a green t-shirt with a bear picture on under his jacket, a white tank top, and occasionally a dark red t-shirt. He has medium-brown hair and a double-chin. He also has triangular-shaped eyebrows in contrast to the other main boys' rectangular ones.

Stan Marsh
Stan is mostly commonly shown wearing a brown jacket with a red collar, a blue hat with a red puffball and rim, and blue jeans. Under his jacket, he either wears a red and blue baseball shirt or a white T-shirt/v-neck. He also wears a blue Terrance and Phillip shirt to bed and a green suit for special occasions. He has black hair.

Kyle Broflovski
Kyle wears a greenish lime ushanka, a bright orange jacket, dark green pants, and lime-green mittens. He has red hair.

Kenny McCormick
Kenny wears an orange parka, orange pants and brown gloves. Almost all of the time, Kenny has his hood on so that only his eyes are seen. Underneath his parka, he has blond hair.

Eric Cartman
Cartman is described in various terms; in short, he is an evil, vicious, angry, and insane child. He is the most foul-mouthed character in the show. He is also racist and stereotypes almost everyone he sees. The very dark, usually disturbing undertones to his personality often hint at an extreme mental imbalance. Apart from being portrayed as having a general lack of moral responsibility or social conscience, he also seems to take pleasure from others' misfortune and is generally unable to show empathy.

Stan Marsh
Stan is generally the most tender and sensitive of the four boys. Stan has showed various positive traits, heroism, empathy, altruism, and various other positive traits. He is usually the one who is unaffected by the many scams, cults, and mass influences that South Park has been subjected to, and has a knack for seeing through falsely glorified practices and celebrities. Stan has been shown to have an overwhelmingly clearer understanding of scams and corporate corruption than anyone else in South Park, and has an especially good grasp of the dangers of cults. It is notable that he has a tendency to ridicule, make enemies out of, and/or bring shame to a very large number of celebrities that are shown in a poor light within the show.

Kyle Broflovski
Originally, Kyle's personality was extremely similar to Stan's - he had firm morals and generally was the "good boy" of the group, often being the one to deliver the "I learned something today" speech at the end of the episodes. After the abandoned plan to kill Kyle off in season 5 (that honor went, predictably, to Kenny) his personality was changed - most notably, his temper shortened considerably. Kyle has extremely strong beliefs, and when forced to question them, he becomes very upset and has somewhat of a short temper (especially when it comes to Cartman. This is has caused a lot of fights between the two boys). For the most part, Kyle bases his decisions on both his emotions and beliefs; therefore, he is easily coaxed into fights and manipulated by his feelings.

Kenny McCormick
Kenny is the most sexually knowledgeable and experienced of the group. In earlier episodes, when an unknown term is introduced to Stan, Kyle and Cartman, Kenny will be called upon by his friends to clarify, although Kenny sometimes does not know the meaning of the term himself. His muffled responses are often met with laughter or further confusion.

Absences
This is a list of episodes which did not feature all four boys in a prominent role.


 * "Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus" - Only Cartman, Kyle, and Stan made a brief appearance on the TV.
 * "Cat Orgy" - Only Cartman featured in full.
 * "Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub" - Only Stan appeared fully, Kyle made a brief appearance and was mentioned once.
 * "Jewbilee" - Only Kyle and Kenny featured.
 * "Pip" - None of the boys appeared.
 * "Cripple Fight" - Everyone except Kyle.
 * Season Six - Kenny died in the Season Five's episode "Kenny Dies"; he is mentioned a lot through out the season. His soul is inside Cartman's body from "A Ladder to Heaven" to "The Biggest Douche in the Universe", after that he reappeared at the end of "Red Sleigh Down".
 * "My Future Self n' Me" - Only Stan, Cartman and briefly Kyle featured.
 * "Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow" - Everyone except Kenny.
 * "Smug Alert!" - Everyone except Kenny.
 * "Cartoon Wars Part II" - Only Cartman and Kyle appeared; Stan and Kenny appeared in the recap of the first part.
 * "A Million Little Fibers" - None of the boys appeared.
 * "Hell on Earth 2006" - Everyone except Kenny.
 * "Go God Go XII" Only Cartman and Kyle appeared.
 * "Stanley's Cup" - Only Stan and briefly Kyle featured.
 * "The Snuke" - Only Stan, Cartman and Kyle; Kenny appeared in a few shots, but with no lines.
 * "Fantastic Easter Special" Cartman appeared briefly and Kenny didn't appear at all.
 * "Le Petit Tourette" - Only Cartman and Kyle; Stan and Kenny appeared in a few shots but with just one line.
 * "More Crap" - Only Stan featured.
 * "Britney's New Look" - Everyone except Kenny.
 * "About Last Night..." - Only Stan, Kyle and briefly Cartman appeared.
 * "Pinewood Derby" - Only Stan, and briefly Cartman and Kenny featured.
 * "Crack Baby Athletic Association" - Everyone except Kenny.
 * "City Sushi" - Only Butters featured, the four boys were seen briefly in the crowd.
 * "Broadway Bro Down" - Three appear briefly, Kyle is absent.

Other Members
Occasionally, other classmates (almost always a boy) are considered a part of the group or replace a regular member. Some episodes, such as "Marjorine" and "Make Love, Not Warcraft," feature most or all of the 4th Grade boys (and Bridon in "T.M.I.") acting as a group, with Cartman usually portrayed as the leader. Although Craig and his gang often oppose the main four boys and compete against them, they are also seen hanging out together multiple times.


 * "Weight Gain 4000" - Wendy
 * "Gnomes" - Tweek
 * "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000" - Token replaces Kenny; Clyde briefly replaces Cartman
 * "Something You Can Do with Your Finger" - Wendy; Randy replaces Kenny
 * "Cripple Fight" - Timmy, Jimmy; Butters replaces Kyle
 * "The Entity" - Kyle Schwartz, but they didn't like him
 * "Jared Has Aides" through "The New Terrance and Phillip Movie Trailer" - Butters replaces Kenny
 * "The Simpsons Already Did It" through "Child Abduction is Not Funny" - Tweek replaces Kenny; Bebe briefly replaces Cartman in "Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society"
 * "The Death Camp of Tolerance" - Butters, Tweek; Kenny is still dead but trapped in Cartman's body
 * "Casa Bonita" - Kyle invites Butters over Cartman
 * "Raisins" - Butters, Jimmy; Stan is with the Goth Kids
 * "Quest for Ratings" - Butters, Jimmy, Token; Cartman does not allow Kenny to join
 * "Marjorine" - Token, Clyde, Francis, Bradley, Kevin, Jason, Craig, Tweek, Jimmy, Timmy, Blue Cap, Butters
 * "Smug Alert!" - Butters replaces Kyle; Kenny is not present
 * "Tsst" - Butters replaces Cartman
 * "Hell on Earth 2006" - Butters, Token, Tweek, Jimmy; Kenny is not present
 * "Imaginationland" - Butters, Jimmy; Cartman is not present
 * "Canada on Strike" - Butters; Kenny is not featured
 * "The China Probrem" - Jimmy, Clyde; Cartman is not present
 * "Pandemic" and "Pandemic 2: The Startling" - Craig
 * "Elementary School Musical" - Scott Malkinson; Stan is not with the boys for part of the episode
 * "W.T.F." - Butters, Jimmy, Token
 * "The F Word" - Butters, Jimmy, Clyde, Token
 * "Pee" - Butters, Jimmy; Cartman is not with them and Kenny dies early on
 * "Crippled Summer" - Butters, Clyde
 * "Coon 2: Hindsight", "Mysterion Rises", "Coon vs. Coon & Friends" - Bradley, Clyde, Token, Timmy; Cartman is kicked out
 * "Funnybot" - Jimmy; Kenny is not present
 * "Crack Baby Athletic Association" - Butters, Clyde, Craig; Stan does not join them and Kenny is not present
 * "You're Getting Old" - Butters, Jimmy, Clyde, Craig, Timmy, Tweek
 * "Ass Burgers" - Butters; Stan is not present
 * "The Last of the Meheecans - Texans: Cartman, Clyde, Craig, Timmy, DogPoo, Jason; Mexicans: Stan, Kyle, Kenny, Butters, Jimmy, Token
 * "Bass to Mouth" - Butters, Wendy, Craig, Token, Bebe, Red; Cartman is not present
 * "1%" - Token

Trivia

 * The Boys have the four main hair colors: black (Stan), red (Kyle), brown (Cartman) and blonde (Kenny). Even when Butters or Tweek replace Kenny, this remains the case.
 * Although there is an ongoing rivalry between The Boys and Craig's Gang (as seen in the episodes "South Park Is Gay!", "Good Times With Weapons" and "Quest for Ratings", among others) the two groups often put aside their differences and coalesce into one group to pursue a greater cause ("Free Willzyx", "Make Love, Not Warcraft", "Marjorine", "Bass to Mouth").