Ok this hasn’t been asked abt BUT
I got OrangeJuiceVerse Stan on the brain (again)
Specifically in terms of his protectiveness.
In the last OJV ask I got I mentioned that he and Kyle have the most parental tendencies of the Star Seven, and boy oh boy do I have some thoughts on Stan’s knight in shining armor complex!
I won’t get into the Kyle part of that bc 1) I have talked wayyyy too much abt that on ao3 and here, and 2) that’s a whole separate long ass post and I would probably combust.
But!!! First focusing on the M5:
So growing up together they were all generally referred to as “Stan’s Gang”, which he was like wait why are they my gang but then he grew to love that bc they were his people. He loves them with all of his soul (ojverse Stan is a lover for sure) and he is EXTREMELY protective of everyone and kind of (smh this man) sees himself as the dad of the crew. Done with everyone’s bs, the “fun” parent. A lot of that comes from his resentment of Randy, his desire to keep everyone out of true danger and not be flaky despite his own problems. This is especially poignant with Kenny.
So Stan and Kyle VERY much see Kenny as “their egg” (yes I’m borrowing from the “Stan is a protective father” note of that episode) and they really look out for him growing up bc of his shitty home life. Really all of the M5 have a soft spot for Ken, but Stan and Kenny understand each other on a spiritual level. Though Stan doesn’t consciously know abt Kenny’s immortality and IS his Ride Or Die Disaster Bi in all things reckless, the second something goes wrong he’s there, swooping in and reminding him that “yeah you can be a crazy bastard, but don’t you dare die”. He’s less overbearing than Ky gets when Kenny gets hurt, but he’s there to be like “hey man you’re good, you gotta be careful tho”. He was the first to INSIST that he pay kenny in full for his art and commissions stuff regularly through their entire lives.
With Marj, it’s really, really complex. I mentioned before in my OJV Stan hcs (thank you to the wife for that ask btw) that he was the first person she went to when she realized she was a girl! Bc he’s always been pretty emotionally honest and accepting of everything, and she was dealing with her crush on Kenny too and Stan notoriously THINKS he’s slick in being a massive simp so two birds one stone lmao. He was pretty clueless at first but that protective instinct kicked in and he was like GIRL WE GONNA FIND YOU SOME RESOURCES! Also, I’ll do a post abt how NO ONE in the OJV Star Seven is neurotypical soon, but i briefly mentioned in The Wacky Adventures of Craig And Kyle that Marjorine has the ‘tism as well, and Stan is NOT the person to go to when you’re having a meltdown, but rest assured he WILL get you to someone who is. Like she can tell him “Stan I’m feelin a little…” and he will IMMEDIATELY find her Kenny or Kyle. Kyle’s obviously his go to when things are out of his emotional scope, and that extends to Craig later down the line.
So TWEEK!!! Oh god Tweek and Stan’s relationship in the OrangeJuiceVerse is so important to me. They’re the first encounter of the Broken Bottles Quartet, and that moment when Kyle figures out about Tweek’s problem, Stan was full man-with-the-plan mode about how to help him! Before he takes Tweek to AA, he’s at ye ol’ meetin’ hall talking to the old geezers in the local group and it’s like:
“Hey, Stanny Boy, good to see you back, how you healin up (smh I did break his ribs for good reason I promise) got anything to share?” “Actually yeah, I’m gonna bring someone with me in a few days, but you guys HAVE to give him space he gets really nervous.” And the longtime AA peeps who are prone to being overly friendly back off and let Tweek just listen that first time, and Stan is consistently checking in and with Stan’s support Tweek slowly gets more comfortable, and Stan is SO fucking proud of him and he’s his sponsor for a LONG ASS TIME before he officially is.
As for Cartman, once he moves away, Stan will call him up pretty frequently to check in, like “hey fatass how’s the wedding planning company coming?” “Fuck off, hippie did you get the-“ “YES I got the beef jerky club membership quit sending me that shit” “heh, sweet.” “Asshole, but seriously are you doing okay?” “Yes you photosynthesizing dildo. The Jew looks tired in his last facebook post check on him” “I got him, Cartman” “you guys are assholes” “we love you too” “gross” smh theyre so unserious.
But yeah that’s this episode of me not shutting tf up abt OrangeJuiceVerse
