Kevin McCormick, how to not mischaracterize him:
this is a rant about my favorite background character and I first want to start it with my first complaint; PLEASE STOP MAKING KEVIN AN ABSENT OLDER BROTHER WHO HATES HIS FAMILY AND RUNS AWAY WHILE LETTING HIS SIBLINGS DIE.
Look I get it, kevin has like 6 scenes in the entire 26 seasons of sp while karen has a centric episode and vurnble scenes that make you get to know her better therefore making her easier to characterize than kevin+ kevin hardly interacts with kenny. But here I am to tell you that making him absent is way more of a mischaracterization than making him be there with his siblings but not interact as much.
"But egg, when kevin was fighting with his dad, Carol said that they were both drunk pices of shit while holding a crying karen!!" Kenny also gets high all the time and has shown to have an addiction to it. Sure, kenny as a character has never shown to be violent like kevin has but it is implied that he also has beaten his parents as mystyrion.
"But Kenny was doing it so he could protect his siblings!" Guys, I'll hold your hand when I say this; kevin has shown multiple times that he cares a LOT for his siblings I want to point out:
notice how when Stuart starts screaming at karen for wanting ice cream Kevin is the first one who gets immediately angery but then shows empathy and worriedness when kenny runs after her
Alsooo Kevin is the one who when they put in the orphanage is looking around all worried and suspicious
I think Kevin truly does care about his siblings but he has a hard time expressing it so instead he tries his best to protect them even if that means he'll look like a 'bad' guy in front of his siblings.
If you still are struggling with Kevin's character a more easy guide is to think of it as kenny if he had anger issues. Kenny and Kevin have a LOT of similar traits (I.e when Stuart and Carol start fighting they both start laughing, they both love food, thay both are willing to hurt other ppl for their siblings etc) but kevin is more short tempered which tbh is to be expected; he is a teenager living in a house where screaming and fighting is normal, a house where he can't be listened without screaming (mind you, heard and listened are two VERY different things). He is in a part of his life when he is brimming with emotions and to add onto that he has one-if not, the shittiest home situations in south park.
this audio I'm going to link is how i see kevin's character has been hinted to be: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCPq8AkNBR6/?igsh=dmNtaGl6dm8wcmVh
AWS here are some of my hc for my baby;
Okay VERY far fetched hc but; when Kevin gets mad his voice deepens and it makes him sound more intimidating so what if a reason Kenny deepens his voice when he is mystiorion is bc he wants to sound more intimate like his big brother.
he really likes arts bc in the episode where they go to the circus while everyone else was getting bored Kevin looked genuinely entertained and when mop was performing everyone else looked terrified ecxept kevin who was just enjoying his time and supporting his brother's dreams.
Another farfetched hc; I think that it's more likely for Kevin to have smth sort of the same curse as kenny bc he seems very Pernoid and scared most of the time same like kenny.
he has absolutly no sense of fashion and frankly...he dosent care, hell wear what the heck is in front of him as long as it keeps him warm. (smth that probably runs in his blood bc tell me why both kenny and kevin looked like they just came out of a trash can in post covid)
He has veryy thick brows bc in the show even though e doesnt talk a lot (like kenny) we understand what he is feeling cuz his brows are constantly showing. which leads me to the next point...
he has a hard time hiding emotion. he is so expressionante- when he gets angry he clutches his fists and looks at the ground, his brows frown hard and he grints his teeth (and how i mentioned earlier that his voice gets deeper ). when he is worried it seems like all the mountness layers and threatning words melt down and so does his face. he looks way younger and he hides away behind the other kids (as seen in the scene where that one kid was getting doctor peppered in the orphange episode)
if you read this thank you so so much and i really hope one day there will be more fics where kevin is a good brother who works through his issues with the help of his siblings and gets as much attention as karen.
