Eric Cartman

**Eric Theodore Cartman**, usually referred to by his family name, *Cartman*, is one of the central characters of South Park. Cartman is darkly antisocial, portrayed as being extremely evil and often reacting in violent and over-dramatic ways to any event that involves him in the series. Common examples of such behavior include a dislike and often open hatred of any race or group to which he does not belong, particularly those of Hippies and Jews. This is the root of his intense rivalry with and dislike of Kyle Broflovski, and several other groups which differ from his world view in South Park. Plots often revolve around his manipulation of others to meet his own ends, regardless of the consequences, even if it can result in death and destruction. Though held at the lowest regard by his fellow classmates, often they are more than willing to participant in many of his antics. During such times, Cartman acts as the *de facto* leader with Craig, Butters, and on occasion Token, sharing the role of his right-hand man.

*Please visit his article on the South Park Archives for more information.*

## Appearance

Cartman wears a red jacket, yellow gloves (or mittens), a blue hat with a yellow puff ball on top, brown pants, and black shoes. He has medium-brown hair and a double-chin. Even though Cartman is overweight, he always denies it by saying, "I'm not fat, I'm just big-boned," or some variation thereof. However, his weight problem may in truth be genetic and runs in the family, as seen by the fact that, with the exception of his mother and an aunt, his entire family is extremely overweight. But in the episode "Fat Camp", when he tells his mother to talk about how he's big boned and such, she instead says, "Those were all lies, sweetie, you're just fat.", so either case may be true.

Many artists draw Cartman with either brown or hazel eyes, to match his hair. However, according to actions taken in the episode "The Succubus", after getting an eye transplant from a dead Kenny, he should have Kenny's blue eyes.

## The Coon

The Coon, or *Coon* for short, is the superhero alter-ego of Eric Cartman. He first appears in the self-titled episode, "The Coon", and was also the leader of Coon and Friends in "Coon 2: Hindsight", but he was kicked out by the other members because he was beating them up and blackmailing other heroes. The Coon eventually went to the evil side when he formed an alliance with Cthulhu in "Mysterion Rises". He embarks on a killing spree with Cthulhu, including destroying the entire city of San Fransisco. In "Coon vs. Coon and Friends", he continues the killing spree, making Cthulhu destroy *Burning Man*, slaughter Justin Bieber and most of his fans, and banish his friends to the sunken City of R'Lyeh. However, Cthulhu is eventually defeated when Mint-Berry Crunch uses his godlike powers to seal him back into R'Lyeh's dimension. The Coon is once again left powerless, and is captured and imprisoned by the new Coon and Friends.

The Coon wears a raccoon-like mask with raccoon ears with metal claws, a utility belt, a red cape with a capital "C" on the back of it, a raccoon tail, a white shirt with a capital "C", and a gray jacket and gray pants.

Like his alter-ego, the Coon is deemed selfish, egomaniacal, with a short temper, and wanted to be the only one with the spotlight, demonstrated as he tried to get rid of Mysterion so he can be South Park's only superhero. He defines being a hero as making the world a better place for himself.

The Coon's primary weapons are sharp metal claws on rings on his fingers (made to resemble a racoon's claws). He uses them to scratch up a man's face in "The Coon" (the man comments afterward "ow, that really stings!"), and to beat up Mosquito and Mint-Berry Crunch (they appeared to cause more serious injury as evidenced by the large amount of blood on Mosquito). He also uses his bare hands to hurt his enemies, such as when he punches Butters (Professor Chaos) in the face or when he kicks Mosquito in the face and groin. He is shown using a variety of conventional equipment such as computers, binoculars, and televisions, all of which have coon-themed names and labels on them. In "The Coon", he also uses large amounts of dynamite to try to blow up a hospital, but abandons the plot soon after Professor Chaos is defeated. While usually preferring to scale buildings for transportation (usually through the use of ladders), he is not above simply asking his mom (who he refers to as "The Coon's faithful Butler") to drive him places (he refers to her car as "The Coon-Mobile).

## External links

* Character Guide - South Park Studios
* Eric Cartman - South Park Archives