This is a mere observation and just a slight nitpick I have with how fanon portrays Randy Marsh.
!!!!! I am not a Randy apologist by the way !!!!! He’s not even a favourite character of mine. This is just my view on how he’s portrayed and my personal opinion on it. This is not an attack on anyone’s hcs and I respect everyone and their portrayals - this is just my view. I haven’t watched the specials really except the End of Obesity and Post-Covid so if there’s anything I missed please let me know!!
In South Park - it is shown many times that Randy is not a good parent but he’s not a bad person. This is a core aspect that people sometimes forget when writing him which can be slightly jarring. It is show in many episodes that he does indeed care about Stan and Shelley as well as Sharon, however, because he is selfish and is a manchild a lot of that creates so much tension. This is also added due to his alcoholism.
What grinds my gears sometimes is when fics make Randy a caricature of an alcoholic and a dead beat dad. When that isn’t the case. He is emotionally absent and negligent but he isn’t abusive. Alcoholism also has many forms and Randy falls under the functional spectrum.
This still does create a lot of hurt in families and it does heavily effect those around them. However when it is done distastefully - for example: used as a plot device and Randy is just vilainised I’m not a fan of it. It feels lazy and is very rarely dealt with care.
What I would love/wish to see more of is some nuance between the dynamic of Stan and Randy. A love-hate relationship between father and son. Randy doesn’t understand his son (shown many times) and often doesn’t understand his son’s needs. Which is why they argue a LOT, they just don’t see eye to eye. And for Stan, he loves his dad but because of Randy’s many flaws he often feels conflicted with his father - about who he is as a person and how his role as a father effected him.
Stan has to come to the realisation that his dad won’t change and the more he ponders on what his dad could be the more miserable he’ll be. It is indeed bittersweet but I think this is something that feels more effective and impactful I guess ??? The way fanon mischaracterises Randy and basically makes him a caricature of himself (the Peter Griffin effect if you will…) becomes redundant over time.
In saying that Randy has suffered from the Peter Griffin effect in some of the more later seasons but that’s another topic entirely. 😭
This show is South Park after all, so of course I’m probably taking this way too seriously but Randy is not a trope - he is a character and has shown many sides to his character!! He has MANY flaws but he also has good traits of the good father he can be at times - he does care about Stan (shows interest in his hobbies such as in guitar queero) and he’s always looking out for Shelley (in his own bizarre way..) !!! I just wish there was more understanding that characters are nuanced and aren’t one dimensional sometimes - even the ones that annoy us.