ManBearPig is a demon from Hell that thrives on temptation, often making deals that involve causing immense carnage toward the next generation when the debt is due. Though often appearing feral, he is sentient and intelligent, sometimes wearing clothing or having specific goals.
The creature was first believed to be a fictional creation of Al Gore he used to advance his career, but was proven to be real in "Time To Get Cereal", when it began to menace South Park citizens.
Background
ManBearPig was introduced in the episode of the ManBearPig. Al Gore gives a presentation to the students of South Park Elementary, in which he claims that the creature walks the Earth alone and "doesn't care who you are or what you did, he simply wants to get you", declaring that he is the one to kill ManBearPig and that he is "super cereal". The boys do not believe him.
Later, when they are playing basketball, the silhouette of a mysterious creature is seen across the horizon. It is immediately revealed to be Al Gore in disguise attempting to spread awareness of ManBearPig. Randy later picks the boys up, telling them there is no such thing as a ManBearPig and that Gore is just trying to look for attention.
The next day Stan, feeling sorry for Gore, convinces Cartman, Kyle and Kenny to go hunting with him for ManBearPig in the Cave of the Winds. Gore leads them away from the tour to find "clues" to ManBearPig, asking them to search for ManBearPig's droppings. Gore soon accidentally causes a cave in, but he falsely blames it on ManBearPig, and flees the cave with the tour, leaving the boys trapped inside.
While everybody is trying to dig out the boys, Gore attempts to flood the cave, believing this will kill ManBearPig. Rescue diggers free the boys just as the flood destroys the cave. Gore ecstatically believes he has killed ManBearPig, but is shouted at angrily by Stan for nearly killing him and his friends. Gore doesn't seem to care in the least, and promises to make a movie about himself.
ManBearPig kills Kyle in "Imaginationland, Episode II".
ManBearPig returns in "Imaginationland, Episode II", where he is heard speaking to declare himself the most evil imaginary creature and disagreeing with the Minotaur. He returns later when the portal between Imaginationland opens, rampaging the government laboratory and killing numerous people including Kyle. ManBearPig is pulled back into Imaginationland, taking Stan with him, but Cartman is able to revive Kyle from his injuries.
When Gore pores over security footage and uncovers the evidence of ManBearPig's existence, he declares that the imagination must be nuked. The government agrees, but only because Imaginationland has a terrorist connection. He is present for the final battle at Imaginationland, but his ultimate fate is unknown after Butters Stotch restores the timeline.
ManBearPig returns in "Time To Get Cereal", and goes on a rampage in South Park and the surrounding area. Jimbo Kern and Ned Gerblanski track him to Tegridy Farms, where he appears and attacks Ned, taking him away. Later, he brutally mauls two children outside South Park Elementary, though Detective Yates assumes the cause of death is another school shooting. ManBearPig is next seen slaughtering most, if not all, the customers at Red Lobster before attacking a Baskin-Robbins as well. With help from Al Gore and Satan, Kyle, Kenny, Cartman and Stan discover that ManBearPig is a demon who was summoned to Earth decades ago, but they are arrested for the "shootings" instead.
ManBearPig fighting and killing Satan in "Nobody Got Cereal?".
ManBearPig's rampage continues in "Nobody Got Cereal?", starting with the murder of a couple outside a Jared jewelry store. The boys manage to escape jail, and Stan returns home to the farm and learns that his grandfather, Marvin Marsh was responsible for summoning ManBearPig and confronts him. Marvin admits he and the other old people summoned the demon decades ago, but they didn't realize he would live to see the consequences of his actions. In the meantime, Kenny, Cartman and Kyle request help from Satan who agrees to help the boys defeat ManBearPig. However, in the fight with Satan, ManBearPig manages to subdue and kill him by ripping off his left horn and plunging it into his chest.
Stan, who is granted power of attorney by his town, enters in a sit-down negotiations with ManBearPig which tells them that he will never come back again if they will give up soy sauce and Red Dead Redemption 2, but people outside the court show reluctance and refuse to sign the agreement. Stan has no choice but to talk with ManBearPig's lawyer about restructuring another deal in which ManBearPig is set to return in five years, in which time the carnage will be a thousand-fold.
He makes a brief cameo celebrating the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in the "South ParQ Vaccination Special".
In South Park: The Streaming Wars, it is revealed that ManBearPig is responsible for causing a drought in Colorado that is affecting Denver as well as Park County. He is soon shown to have killed Talnua Cussler and revealed to be working for Pi-Pi who is buying up all of the water in the mountains for his water park, and has the demon attack Steve Black and kill the Water Commissioner to maintain control. In South Park: The Streaming Wars Part 2, Pi-Pi becomes furious over Randy's plan in restoring the state's water supply which was well-received over his own, and orders ManBearPig to put a stop to the plan, which includes destroying the Government Desalinization Plant. However, it is revealed during a commercial shooting at the water park that Pi-Pi had been attempting to control climate change by "fucking its mom", which turn ManBearPig against Pi-Pi, killing the latter as a consequence.
Appearance
In the drawing presented by Al Gore, ManBearPig is shown to be a humanoid creature with hooves, claws, fur growing all over his body, pig-like ears and snout.
In the flesh, he is portrayed as a hulking chimera whose face is that of a pig on one side and that of a bear on the other. His body is partly covered in hair and has some human features on his torso. He has human-like legs and pig-like feet. The left side of his face is usually covered in blood, but appears to have human-like flesh beneath it.
When he returns in South Park: The Streaming Wars, the blood that was formerly covering his left side has been cleaned off, and he now wears a brown beanie, two gold chains, a buttoned striped blue shirt, gray pants, a golden watch, and a black leather jacket, and by the end of South Park: The Streaming Wars Part 2, he removes the clothing.
Powers and Abilities
ManBearPig is at least physically stronger than Satan. However, it is unknown if is ManBearPig truly more powerful than Satan, since he had not possessed a human host like Stan Marsh to use powers such as absorbing Vortex Creation or fire manipulation. His powers include, but are not limited to:
- Super Strength: When ManBearPig appears in "Imaginationland, Episode II", he dismembered several scientists and nearly kills Kyle just because he could hold him hard. ManBearPig is also able to overcome Satan's strength in "Nobody Got Cereal?", killing the latter.
- Injury Immunity: ManBearPig was shown to be immune to common weaponry in "Time To Get Cereal", when Jimbo Kern tries to shoot the demon was immune to natural common weaponry.
Trivia
- ManBearPig works as a metaphor of Global Warming, which can be confirmed by Al Gore's lines before his bossfight in South Park: The Stick of Truth. This is made gradually more clear in his later appearances, where he is blamed for melting ice caps and a drought.
- In "Time To Get Cereal", it is revealed that ManBearPig is a demon summoned from Hell. Although previously implied to be a figment of Al Gore's imagination, a South Park Studios FAQ posting implied it might have been an experiment of Dr. Mephesto.[2] This was of debatable validity, given that ManBearPig does not display any characteristics of Mephesto's other experiments.
- ManBearPig's roars are stock sound effects lifted from the 1988 animated film The Land Before Time, used for the film's main antagonist, Sharptooth. Aforementioned roars were provided by legendary voice actor, Frank Welker.
- ManBearPig's appearance since his physical debut in "Imaginationland, Episode II" is a homage to Katahdin, the mutated bear-monster from the 1979 horror film, Prophecy.
Video Games
South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!
ManBearPig is the penultimate boss in South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!, on the level "Mountain Pass". Like other bosses, the players' goal is to keep him from reaching the town, or else the game is lost. His role in the overarching storyline is never explained. If players manage to kill ManBearPig without using any towers on Insane mode, they will earn a Platinum medal and the "MANBEARPIG!" achievement. The game is even self-aware about it, as the description for Insane difficulty mentions the achievement.
South Park: Tenorman's Revenge
ManBearPig appears as an enemy in South Park: Tenorman's Revenge.
South Park: The Stick of Truth
Although not seen in-game, ManBearPig is continuously referenced during Al Gore's sidequests. In the quest ManBearPig, Al Gore asks the player to put three ManBearPig sensors across South Park. After that, Al Gore asks the player to go into the sewers to insert a ManBearPig defilibrator. After defeating Al Gore during the Unfriend Al Gore sidequest, the player will then get a sidequest called Defeat ManBearPig, the player must defeat Al Gore in a ManBearPig costume.
South Park: Phone Destroyer
ManBearPig is a 7-Cost Legendary Tank of the Neutral theme. His in-game description says "Holy shit, it’s real!". Though not mentioned in the card description, his attacks inflict knockback. He has the highest cost out of any card in the game.
Prominence
- "ManBearPig" - The creature does not actually appear in the episode named after it, for it exists only in Al Gore's imagination.
- "Imaginationland, Episode II" - Comes through the Imagination Doorway and almost kills Kyle.
- "Imaginationland, Episode III" - Seen in the final battle.
- "Time To Get Cereal" - Rampages through South Park killing people.
- "Nobody Got Cereal?" - Continues his rampage, fights Satan in a battle to the death and wins, and he finally agrees to temporarily stop his rampage after hiring a lawyer to restructure a new deal with Stan.
- "South ParQ Vaccination Special" - Seen at the end celebrating the end of the pandemic.
Movies
- South Park: The Streaming Wars - Sabotages the water supply in Colorado, and is later revealed to be a henchman of Pi-Pi.
- South Park: The Streaming Wars Part 2 - Sabotages Randy's plan in restoring the state's water supply, but eventually turns against his superior.
References