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The Character Sample is a general guideline that should walk editors through the process of writing a good character article.

Note: this is intended as a guideline. Follow this guideline, but do not remove any information from a page unless it is blatantly irrelevant or redundant. It is always preferable to integrate information into a suitable section rather than remove it from an article.

It is advised that potential editors use good judgement and common sense while editing. If compliance to any provision set by this guideline would be detrimental to the quality of an article you are editing, select the approach that would make the article look best.

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 Shmainforest".

The character's name and any aliases should be bolded on first mention. Also note the quotes around episode names. Also, quotes should not have spaces in between what you are trying to quote; " Text " is bad but "Text" is good. 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. And because he is a child, we would then set his age as "9-10".

Background

Anything that involves the history of the character or how the character came to be should go in this section. Character development and major points in the characters life should be outlined here. Subsections can be added too. For a good example of subsections, see Eric Cartman.

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.

Occasionally, we may wish to use a direct quote from the show as an image caption. In this case, we should place the quote in both italics and quotation marks. This applies to both galleries and illustrative images. See the Powers and Abilities section below for an example.

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:

[[File:(filename)|thumb|(alignment)|(caption)]]

Personality

SPRS2

An illustrative picture relevant to the section.

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".

Subsections can be added too. For a good example of subsections, see Eric Cartman.

Powers and abilities

SPPII4

"Okay, now there's sparks shooting out of my eyes."

Certain characters in South Park have superpowers. When applicable, a description of any superhuman abilities the character may possess should be placed in this section.

Our example section for Craig:

In "Pandemic 2: The Startling", Craig is shown to be able to shoot lasers out of his eyes when standing on a certain pedestal in Peru. This allows him to stop the Furry Death and save the Earth. These superpowers have not manifested on any other occasion.

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 "Tweek vs. Craig", but his parents are later shown to be extremely concerned when he goes missing in "Pandemic".

Family Member

A description of the subject character's relationship with this family member.

Family Member 2

A description of the subject character's relationship with another family member.

Interactions

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 "Tweek vs. Craig" is significant, and should thus be documented under the relevant heading.

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.

Character

A description of the subject character's relationship with this character.

Character 2

A description of the subject character's relationship with another character.

Video games

Game 1

Informations about his appearance in the game.

Game 2

Informations about his appearance in the game.

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: "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." 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".
  • 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." from "Pandemic".
  • Craig: "[...] Well I thought I was crazy! He said my dad was going to sneak into my room naked one night and beat me up." from "Free Willzyx".
  • Craig: "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: "Yup, nice and boring. Just the way I like it." from "Pandemic 2: The Startling".
  • Craig: "Oh yeah?! We're super duper triple-dog gay!" from "South Park is Gay!".
  • Craig: "I'm not just gay, I'm a catamite!" from "South Park is Gay!".
  • Craig: "This ass is unlike any I've encountered, Master!" from "Tweek vs. Craig".
  • Craig: "Yup, and if I had wheels, I'd be a wagon..." from "Fishsticks".
  • Craig: "You really don't think they'd put a fat tub of lard at the bottom?" from "The List".
  • Craig: "Come on, fags. snaps fingers" from "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] from "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!" from "Rainforest Shmainforest".
  • Craig: "Look! It's the butch boy!" from "South Park is Gay!".
  • Craig: "Yeah... don't just 'Oh' me!" from "Tweek vs. Craig".
  • Cartman: "Hey, you can watch Red Racer any day of the week!"
    Craig: "I do watch Red Racer everyday of the week!" from "Tweek vs. Craig".

Catchphrases

Place catchphrases here. Catchphrases are usually short and spoken by the character often throughout the series.

Unlike quotes, catchphrases do not need to source episodes (since it is assumed that they appear in numerous episodes), nor do they need character attributions. Because Craig doesn't have any catchphrases, for the moment we'll use Cartman's. The list is to be formatted as follows:

  • "Respect my authority!"
  • "I'm not fat, I'm just big boned!"

Catchphrases may be spoken by more than one character. One such example would be Stan and Kyle's iconic lines "Oh my God! They killed Kenny!" "You bastards!", which do require attribution. Lines spoken by different speakers within a catchphrase should be separated with a single line break (<br> or <br />), but different catchphrases should be separated with bullets. For example, in a list of Stan's catchphrases, these lines would be formatted as such:

  • "God damn it."
  • "This is pretty fucked up right here."
  • Stan: "Oh my God! They killed Kenny!"
    Kyle: "You bastards!"

Some catchphrases may have minor contextual variations. In these cases, it may be sensible to substitute in a short italicized explanation within square parentheses, or simply use ellipsis in place of the variable parts. Use your own judgement to decide which one would be more suitable. For demonstrative purposes, Craig's lines from "Le Petit Tourette" are used here:

  • "If I could say [something obscene] to [someone important], I'd be so happy."

An alternate example of ellipsis being used in the same case:

  • "...I'd be so happy."

For miscellaneous verbal tics and idiosyncrasies, such as Stan prefacing sentences with "dude", or Tweek's involuntary verbalizations like "nngh" or "gah!", a short explanatory paragraph may be preferable to a list. For example, for Tweek's quotes section, a short explanation is placed within the catchphrases section.

Tweek also has a couple involuntary verbal tics, like "nngh!" and "gah!", which interpose his dialogue.

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 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.

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".

See also

Links to other relevant articles or material can be included under this heading.

Any information that cannot be placed in one of these sections should be placed in this section. Miscellaneous tidbits of information, such as random observations, can be placed under the Trivia section (see above for example entries of Trivia).

Note that if there is no information for a particular section, do not add the section. It is preferable to not have the section and add it later rather than have an empty section.

References

The References section is required only if the article contains citations, in which case it should contain the {{reflist}} (an automatically generated list of references). If the article contains no citations (i.e. the reflist is blank), this section is not necessary.

Other templates, such as {{South Park Children}} or {{Various South Park Townsfolk}} should always be placed at the end of the article, regardless of whatever the last section happens to be.

The categories module will automatically place categories at the end of the article. If you are editing in source, place categories at the end of an article.

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