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This. This is so much true. Kyle's major point, especially recently, has been to be a counter to the ridiculousness going on in the episode. Without someone or something to keep the whole thing grounded than it would lose a ton of its impact. Though he used to do more, Kyle tends to mostly act as a foil to everything else going on around him.

To be fair; I think many of the things that people are complaining about are because Kyle's stayed fairly grounded whereas many of the plots and stories are flying off in random directions. We rarely see the whole group working together anymore. More often there's something much more specific going on and Kyle is constantly portrayed as the foil to the main story of the episode.

You know, I like Kyle as a main character. And in fact I'd like to see them do more with him other than make him a foil to Cartman. I mean, why couldn't he have a real date with someone like say the new character Nichole without say Cartman being racist?! I'm just saying

Yeah there he was having a good time with Nicole and that fast bastard ruins it.

I'm okay with him being the foil, but there was definitely a missing beat down with that episode. Cartman deserved a good punch to the gut.

The issue with Kyle acting in a lead is that he is painstakingly rational. That means he needs to get into situations based on being oblivious or the rational option backfiring. South Park is so absurd that it's hard for him to act other than being a foil for the others. It's just the reality of smart characters in popular fiction, particularly comedies, seldom being used as the lead. Rational just isn't the basis for amusement without that foil around.

Of course, it'd be kinda nice if he got a growing up episode where he realizes he needs to act more like a kid as a means to dial down the direction of later seasons to put him in the position of the rational and moral compass.

Kyle has become kind of annoying in the past few years. Bring Back I learned something today!!!

Happy Birthday Kyle!

I was looking up about zodiac signs recently (I don't believe in it, but I find it interesting and cool), and I noticed under Sidereal dates, Kyle would be a Taurus instead of a Gemini. According to a website about zodiac signs, Taurus colors are green, orange, yellow, and earth tones. What a coincidence that Kyle wears both Green and Orange! XD

i wish he woulda stayed on the force with the guys...he woulda had a carreer started at the age of 7...he woulda been a great cop

Just wanted to say a little fun fact,
Today, May 26 2013 is Kyle's 24th birthday (based off his Facebook profile on an episode and he was 8 in 1997)
Yeah, he's a cartoon character, but WHO CARES?
Happy Birthday Kyle!