Ok this hasnāt 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 Stanās knight in shining armor complex!
I wonāt get into the Kyle part of that bc 1) I have talked wayyyy too much abt that on ao3 and here, and 2) thatās 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 āStanās Gangā, 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 everyoneās bs, the āfunā 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 ātheir eggā (yes Iām borrowing from the āStan is a protective fatherā 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 doesnāt consciously know abt Kennyās immortality and IS his Ride Or Die Disaster Bi in all things reckless, the second something goes wrong heās there, swooping in and reminding him that āyeah you can be a crazy bastard, but donāt you dare dieā. Heās less overbearing than Ky gets when Kenny gets hurt, but heās there to be like āhey man youāre good, you gotta be careful thoā. 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, itās 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 heās always been pretty emotionally honest and accepting of everything, and she was dealing with her crush on Kenny too and Stan notoriously THINKS heās 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, Iāll 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 ātism as well, and Stan is NOT the person to go to when youāre having a meltdown, but rest assured he WILL get you to someone who is. Like she can tell him āStan Iām feelin a littleā¦ā and he will IMMEDIATELY find her Kenny or Kyle. Kyleās 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 Stanās relationship in the OrangeJuiceVerse is so important to me. Theyāre the first encounter of the Broken Bottles Quartet, and that moment when Kyle figures out about Tweekās problem, Stan was full man-with-the-plan mode about how to help him! Before he takes Tweek to AA, heās at ye olā meetinā hall talking to the old geezers in the local group and itās like:
āHey, 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?ā āActually yeah, Iām gonna bring someone with me in a few days, but you guys HAVE to give him space he gets really nervous.ā 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 Stanās support Tweek slowly gets more comfortable, and Stan is SO fucking proud of him and heās 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 āhey fatass howās the wedding planning company coming?ā āFuck off, hippie did you get the-ā āYES I got the beef jerky club membership quit sending me that shitā āheh, sweet.ā āAsshole, but seriously are you doing okay?ā āYes you photosynthesizing dildo. The Jew looks tired in his last facebook post check on himā āI got him, Cartmanā āyou guys are assholesā āwe love you tooā āgrossā smh theyre so unserious.
But yeah thatās this episode of me not shutting tf up abt OrangeJuiceVerse