Blaugust 19: King of The Hill

Shane sent me a clip of the new KOTH¹⁾ season. The clip dispalys Joseph being a scout and thinking he's white.

And this clip inspired us to watch the new season of KOTH. It's 10 episodes dropped on Hulu. It's pretty good! I'll try not to spoiler entire episode plots, but I'll talk about specific things that happen. Also I'll talk a little about South Park. Both shows are social satire, so I will reference current politics. If you don't want to read about “politics”, you should click the close button on this page.

10 episodes is an easy binge during a night of grief and torment, which is exactly what we did over dinner. I haven't looked at anyone else's opinions, because the loudest people online have horrible opinions. So if I repeat anyone else's opinions, whatever lol.

Hank and Peggy come back to Texas after 5 years working in Saudi Arabia. Their son Bobby is a grown-ass man who is trying to run a Japanese-German restaurant. Bobby deals with being an adult, and rekindling his relationship with Connie. The neighbors are up to their old shenanigans. The Hill family tries to deal with a modern 2025 world even though their brains are still stuck in 1996.

It's very shocking to see modern technology in a 90's cartoon, but they make Hank deal with it in a fun way. It actually makes ME feel Hank's age because I don't understand all these newfangled apps and smart-fridges! I sorta disappeared from the world around 2014 and just regained consciousness too. I'm a bit less conservative than Hank, but I also want to understand and adapt.

It's not TOO cringe when Hank has to learn about gender-neutral bathrooms, he accepts it and the other characters treat it as an average aspect of life.

They don't go into the whole “trans debate” but they dance around it with characters like Peggy embracing the term “female-presenting”. And the incel episode has Hank straight up saying that incels/friendzone/etc is bullshit ideology, and that you should respect women for more than sex. Pretty woke! I really liked that episode cuz they entwine the theme with character aspects- namely Hank having flashbacks to HIS dad calling him a soyboy, calling him names, mistreating women. I think that's what make KOTH less cringe than South Park to me, because the plot (to ME!!!) still feels grounded in how the characters will react.

South Park is also coming off of a shorter hiatus (one year), and they've gone full throttle into direct political commentary, what with direct references to Trump and ICE and other modern horrors. KOTH is comparatively toothless because the stories are always more about small town middle-class suburban white home life, than y'know POLICE UNITS KIDNAPPING AND MURDERING PEOPLE, but it's not necessarily centrist (indeed, most of the plots revolve around Hank starting off conservative but becoming relatively woke after a realization). Your taste for either cartoon will all come down to how much “current events” you can handle in your funny anime. KOTH acknowledges current events like conspiracy theorist Dale running for politics during pandemic lockdown and winning under an anti-mask campaign, or gender-neutral bathrooms, and hell an entire episode about woman-hating incels and soyjaks. But they don't talk about Trump haha.

In [current year], I found KOTH easier to digest than South Park. South Park has become more “cringey” for me to watch as an adult because the direct references are things that are.. well, current events that people argue about right now. Whereas when I was a 6 year old watching South Park, I wasn't aware enough to know what they were talking about and it was easier to just watch for the silly jokes and funny animation. It's not necessarily that South Park has changed (though it has!!), it's just that I got older and find that “character talking to the camera in the direct voice of the writer” makes my butthole clench and my face grimace 😬.

So far I've watched the first 2 episodes of the new season of South Park, and they're both relatively “dark woke” - in that the actual real president of the USA has derided the show for having gone “woke” for calling him multiple slurs and saying he has a tiny dick. The show straddles that “dark woke” line because the more socially conscious amogus will not like the show using ableist/homophobic slurs, and may not forgive the history of South Park being more libertarian. But the socially conservative amogus will not like the show directly saying to the camera that police raids and kidnapping and our shitty president are cartoonishly awful.

The writers, Matt and Trey, have said in the past that they didn't want to parody Trump because it was “too real”. They also said in the past that they're socially liberal and fiscally conservative. People can and will change, as we can see in their current scripts. They've made direct apology episodes for the transphobic dolphin thing, they've gotten more bleeding heart liberal as they've gotten older.

In my own opinion, I'm glad that they're sort of catching bullets and using their privilege as rich straight white guys to say what a LOT of people are thinking about the current USA administration. I still gotta put on my 🤔 face for a lot of stuff, mostly about how they'll still treat non-white non-straight non-dudes as the “kooky and crazy other” in their scripts. Or what kind of overtime and labor shit goes on when they rush an episode the day before it airs. But I don't hate the new season, and I'll be catching it when I remember.

I don't quite have yaoi feelings for South Park in [current year]. I used to have a crush on Kenny as a kid??? Probably cuz he died every episode and that is a huge moe point for me. I have multiple characters like Basile and Angus whose whole point is them dying in horrible different ways… I think I shipped Stan's dad and Kyle's dad as a kid? Maybe Kenny's dad in there somewhere? I thought it was hot that Satan was a big buff bottom.

The actual yaoi episode gave me too much second-hand cringe for me to enjoy fully. It's sort of the same cringe I felt when Metalocalypse had an episode where fans had their gay fanart on display. It just feels bad man to be acknowledged like that! Like bro, Matt and Trey are supposed to tongue kiss in dresses, but they're not supposed to point at their audience cheering when they make out and be like “you like that shit you slut bitches”?? I don't have enough yume in my fujo genes to like being addressed in first person. And I don't like the like… higher awareness of yaoi in normie consciousness cuz it leads to more people making fun of artists?

Sort of like when youtubers do HILARIOUS readings of gay fanfic and go like “omg so cringe!!!” and then people swarm the fic comments saying “lol this is cringe i saw this on youtube”. I don't like that elevated spotlight. Though a lot of modern fandom people DO like the spotlight, which coincides with ships becoming a thing to make “canon” rather than just something you make and enjoy with your friendscuz gay people don't exist in mainstream media.

But overall, though I still cringe, I'm glad that Matt and Trey are fujo allies and keep requesting, commissioning, and putting Tweek x Craig yaoi in their show and games. They're actually one of the few shows to actually have a “canon” gay relationship be like, rather important and acknowledged and not just a “i'm a guy and have a husband” throwaway moment. So good for them.

I don't really have yaoi feelings for Tweek and Craig either. I think I'm a bit too grown to be shipping elementary school characters together LOL, I'm sure I would have fallen for the actual literal yaoi bait when I was in elementary school too. BUT for me right now, I like yaoi that's implied and wink wink so I have fun building with the blocks with my friends, rather than the yaoi that's given outright.

I'm a John Redcorn and Dale Gribble Truther. Look. Look at this screenshot from the new show where Dale has John Redcorn in the TRUSTED list for no damn reason.

Here's screenshots from the old show where Dale helps John Redcorn reclaim Native American land from the US government.

Please note how they're framing it exactly like Dale is cheating on Nancy with John Redcorn. This is true friendship. When John Redcorn stops fucking your wife, to fuck YOU.

I've been pondering what I want yaoi to look like between Dale and John Redcorn. My gut says that Dale is older, and thus should bottom. But Shane posits the very poignant point that John Redcorn is prettier, handsomer, longer-haired, chad, muscular, taller, has rockin' abs, and thus should bottom. But I sorta don't want to see Dale's penis. Maybe I can be convinced if I see or read something. I want to draw yaoi of them frotting for now.

On the flip-side, here's here's Joseph Gribble (Dale AND John can be the baby daddy) MILF-hunting on Asian aunties:

S14, E8.

Here's Joseph trying to hide his HOT MOM SUMMER magazine from Peggy when she's at their apartment.

Also Joseph “pencil fighting” with Peggy… and getting Pegged. Happily! He likes getting Pegged by his roommate's (who is not his boyfriend) mom.

S14, E9.

Here's Joseph from the previous seasons molesting Connie's mom, creeping on Luanne, and otherwise trying to MILF-hunt on people 5x his age:

Joseph def got his milf-taste from his dad. And his lack of game from his white daddy. Not really sure why Joseph has a mommy fetish? His own mom IS pretty hot. But sort of absent. In any case, SCOUT APPROVED.

I'm very tickled that Joseph has ADHD by way of adderall.

S14, E10.

Which explains why we're not that good at school but good at noticing boobs… Woke DEI strikes again!!!

It feels natural in a down-to-earth show like KOTH to tap characters with the Named Identity wand. It feels unnatural in other more cartoony shows to suddenly be like “they are Agender Heteromantic” or something. But it feels right with KOTH. Like, I actually wouldn't be surprised if they pulled the wokest move of all and tapped Bobby with the “10 months T” wand. He's a husky boy, can't grow much facial hair, has a higher voice than other dudes, kept almost the same voice as when he was a kid, gets made fun of by other dudes for being more sensitive and liking cooking, voice actor is a woman… someone out there has that as their kintype. And I'll take Joseph ADHD Asian MILF-hunter as my kintype.

And Shane has accidentally found Bobby very Shane-core. Shane would absolutely get bullied into buying a dying horse, and everyone WOULD make fun of him cuz they knew he'd get bullied into it. What happens if a Joseph kinnie and Bobby kinnie are roommates?

Crazy shit in S14 E5 btw:

John Redcorn dreams of riding a horse with Joseph. And Bobby tries to set them up to have son/not-dad dates together with no Bobby third-wheeling. I'll leave that for the true fujo FREAKS²⁾ to decipher. Dads have no rights btw, dni if you let dads slang penis around.

Overall, I'm happy with how they developed the characters getting older! They still feel like themselves, but they worry about more complex things. Feels good like watching the characters grow in Dragonball, it's exactly what I like to do with my own characters and just explore how they'd react in different situations and times and ages….

Hope you watch KOTH and give it a chance too.

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