Talk:Bobby Hill (King of the Hill)

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Spam

Deleted advertising for DVD set. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.64.67.24 (talk • contribs) 03:17, 14 May 2003‎

Disambiguation

For this character on King of the Hill disambiguation actually is necessary because there is another Bobby Hill meriting his own Wikipedia article. But most of the other characters don't need disambiguation. ShutterBugTrekker 21:45, 27 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Age & Birthdate

Bobby is listed as having been born in 1985. First off, I'm curious as to how anyone would know this, as I've never heard his year of birth mentioned on the show (although it's possible I simply don't remember it). Secondly, it's plainly obvious that like in other animated shows (a la' The Simpsons) the characters aren't actually getting older. If he'd been born in 1985, Bobby would now be 21 years old, but he is never represented as being older than 13 in the world of the show and is still in middle school. I think that if we're going to note his birthdate as being in 1985 (assuming we know this was ever supposed to be true of the character), then we should note that the date isn't cannon. These articles need to be written in a way that lets people who have never seen the show understand who the chacters are. --69.237.151.26 02:07, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

In King of the Hill characters age very slowly, but unlike the Simpsons they do age some. Bobby was 12 in the second season. He is preparing for his fourteenth birthday in one of the most recent episodes.--T. Anthony (talk) 21:50, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

Bobby mentioned in an episode (the one with the tornado in Luanne's trailor park) that luanne suspected that he read her diary on june 18th, 1985. I guess the show might take place in the past.

That's the most retarded thing I've ever heard. Please explain the episode where Luanne becomes a communist instead of voting for George W Bush if it "takes place in the past". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.84.191.230 (talk) 05:54, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

I believe the episode was texas city twister.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_Twister

That would imply that the character was born in 1980 or 1981 at the latest, because he would need to have been old enough to read in 1985. In addition, LuAnne doesn't move in with the Hill family until after the start of the series, so how is it that Bobby had access to her diary? --71.129.178.48 05:01, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Then how does this explain Joseph's birth in 1993 and being one year older than Bobby?--The Scourge 05:46, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

I think Bobby was born in 1987 and this is why. Bobby is 13 and the episode in which he turned 13 was released in 2000. Plus, when watching this show, we generally think of it taking place in the year 2000. The show almost never talks about a year after that and this isn't like other shows that keep going on with the dates.

The show does have an episode where Hank wanted to go to the Houston Texans training camp, which realistically couldnt have been before 2002, and was likely around 2004. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.17.167.178 (talk) 03:15, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

As for episodes with birthdays, there have been 3. The episode of the 13th birthday was released in 2000, like I mentioned above. Another one was released in 1998 and I suppose that in that one he turned 12. The other episode is either a throw-away or the one of his 11th birthday. That was released in 1997. Also, it is in the season of an episode where Peggy for some reason mentions 5th grade. It was in the episode where Peggy tries to teach sex-ed. So, 2 episodes make him born in 1986 and 1 in 1987. And that's why I have the theory that Bobby was born in 1987. 216.93.231.149 (talk) 07:56, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

When Bill rejoins the High School Football team, the Coach address the students in the Assembly as the class of "Ought One", or 2001.

In "Shins of the Father", the day after Bobby's Birthday, Cotton says "It's Angie Dickinson's Birthday". Angie Dickinson's Birthday is September 30th, so Bobby's would have to be September 29th.JessicaFaith84 (talk) 00

19, 29 August 2015 (UTC)

Pic

Can somone change that picture? Please I HATE dent Bobby. — Preceding unsigned comment added by XxKautopsxX (talk • contribs) 23:59, 22 November 2006‎

Somebody add a pic plz.[[User:SxeFluff--SxeFluff (talk) 23:26, 24 November 2007 (UTC)]] 5:31, 24 November 2007

Eating Habits

I added this section on Bobby's eating habits because it's something I've noticed over many episodes. I could not find episode titles for some of the examples I used, and I believe the bible leather thing is correctly stated, but it could be worded better by someone who remembers better than I. Also, I know there are other examples. If anyone knows other examples to complete this section, that would be great. Alvastarr 15:48, 21 July 2007 (UTC)alvastarr

Does anybody else think Bobby has Prader-Willi syndrome?

-random MD —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.100.184.162 (talk) 02:40, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Hmm it does sound similar. Although I don't think Bobby is precisely retarded or learning disabled. He seems to learn some things quite well. In addition to that the show has not remotely implied this even though they've went to the doctors to see if he has "a problem."--T. Anthony (talk) 21:48, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

Absolutely not. I'm guessing you've never met a person with PWS. Regardless, it's complete WP:OR and has no place in the article. OlYeller^Talktome 10:53, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

Something should be added to mention Bobby's love of fruit pies.Lemonlimeotter (talk) 10:58, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

Somebody removed a buncha trivia

^^ I want to put it back but I want some input first — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.197.154.8 (talk • contribs) 22:11, 30 August 2007‎

It should be removed or incorporated appropriately back into the article, per Wikipedia:Trivia_sections.Luminum (talk) 06:11, 3 June 2009 (UTC)

I don't remember hank ever thinking bobby was gay

Really, who ever put that there was just trying to gossip — Preceding unsigned comment added by SoldierOfColbert (talk • contribs) 05:49, 19 July 2008‎

That Boy Ain't Right...

Hank has a strained relationship with His son Bobby Hill. At times seems to really want his son to be "normal" yet Bobby Hill's behaviour makes Hank sometimes think that his son is effeminate. So when he hears from his neighbour Khan Soupanousimpone that Bobby is "Sex Crazy", and hearing he is interested in seeing his girlfriend naked seems to fit his idea of normal red-blooded American boy behavior. He is also immensly relieved to confirm that his son is hetrosexual. Whether he's really thinking "not normal" means gay is never actually explicitly stated, but it is implied.(Considering his largely traditionalist outlook Hank is surprisingly tolerant of gays). Hank is unnerved by some of the innuendos of Jeau Bea, Bill's cousin, is more upset that Peggy lost her virginity to a guy, the fact that the guy was gay was irrelevent. He accepts that Dale's father is gay, and does not ever make derogatory remarks)--T. Anthony (talk) 14:11, 18 April 2009 (UTC)

Page has been vandalized

Someone vandalized this page, removing all references to "Bobby Hill" and replacing them with references to "Aaron Bergman." The page needs to be fixed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ttc817 (talk • contribs) 17:30, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

Lead

This lead is very long for the length of the article according to WP:LEAD. I added the {{intro-toolong}} tag, requesting that it be edited.OlYeller^Talktome 07:47, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

I removed it. It consists of a single sentence. Any shorter, and it wouldn't be an introduction at all. 71.200.138.188 (talk) 02:33, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

Age (2)

There's been an issue lately concerning the age of Bobby. If the show is chronologically the same as the "real world", Bobby is 23 years old. As Bobby is still in middle school, one would think that the cast much slower than "real time." How do we resolve this? I believe that saying he's 14 (he had his 14th birthday in a later episode) is the best way to present his age and that saying he's 23 is misleading. I don't want to get into an edit war so I'd like to discuss it here and look for a consensus. OlYeller^Talktome 00:47, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

I don't remember the interview but they said that at first they considered having them age at an almost natural rate. (When you consider a season is only dealing with maybe 22-24 weeks of their life, if that much) So he went from 12 (or nearly so) to nearly 14 over a period of time, but then they sort-of abandoned the idea and I think the aging essentially stopped. I'm not sure they've had an episode where he turns 14, just ones that say his fourteenth birthday is "coming up." Perhaps because she's a more supporting character Luanne seems to have continued along the "slow but steady aging" vector. Avoiding some confusion about the first season she started out at about 18-19 and she's now at least 22. In most animated comedies characters don't age at all, Bart has "graduated" from the fourth grade at least three times that I know of, so really KotH is somewhat unusual in that the characters do or did age a little.--T. Anthony (talk) 09:33, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

I asked for people in related Wikiprojects to comment on this discussion. There was one (see below by AnmaFinotera) response at the Wikiproject (see here). I asked the commenter to add his comment here but he hasn't so I went ahead and copied it over here. See the previous link for proof. So that you know I'm not cherry picking responses that prove my point, here are links to the Wikiprojects where I asked for comments ([1][2][3][4]). OlYeller^Talktome 19:37, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

"His age should be given in terms of the fictional work, i.e. in the series he is depicted as being 13 (or whatever his age was at the start of the series), and in episode X celebrated his 14th birthday. -- AnmaFinotera (talk · contribs) 01:15, 25 May 2009 (UTC)"

THE AGE OF BOBBY HILL

This seems to be a controversial topic but I have noticed that Hank Hill, Peggy Hill, Cotton Hill, John Redcorn, Dale Gribble, Jeff Boomhaur, and Nancy Gribble seem to age correctly. This means that for example Cotton Hill is said to have died in 2007 and according to his Birthday he was 82 years old when he died. Hank was born in 1960 so he is listed as 48 years old etc. The only problem is that the adults in the show seem to age as there correct ages are listed on Wikipedia. For example it is listed that Dale Gribble was born in 1962 and it is also listed that he is 46 years old. This makes sense. But what doesn’t make sense is that most of the adult characters seem to age in real time like Hank, Dale, Peggy, Bill, Nancy are 12 years older from when the Show started according the Wikipedia articles but Bobby, Connie, and Joseph only age like 2 years. This makes no sense because the adults age normally and the kids don’t. Hank was born in 1960 so he is 48 years old, but Bobby was born in 1985 but he is only 13 years old? The series uses real dates such as the 2000 Presidential Elections. So if Bobby was 11 in 1997 then during the 2000 Presidential elections he must be 14. This means that since specific dates are given such as the 2000 Elections and Cotton’s death in 2007 as attested on the Wikipedia article Cotton Hill, the show is progressing in real time and thus characters should age in real time. Another proof that the show is taking place in real time and not at a slow pace or in the distant past is the reference to modern things such as High School Musical in the Episode where Peggy is trying to get the perfect Christmas pictures. This means that it must have been at least 2006 at the time which would make Bobby at least 21 years old. Thus the show must take place in real time or at least after 2006 which is the latest mention in time that I have seen. The earliest mention of a specific time that I have seen is 1999 when Hank was scared about Y2K. This means that the show could have taken place no later than 1999 and it’s latest episodes could have occurred no earlier than 2006. This means that if Bobby Hill was 11 years old no later than 1999 he must have been born in 1988 and if the latest episodes take place no earlier than 2006 this means that currently he can’t be younger than 18 years old. This is based on the fact that earliest mention of an actual date in the series that I have seen is 1999. Although I am not saying that there cannot be an earlier mentioned date in the series, all I am saying is that is the earliest date I can remember being specifically mentioned, which means that the show must start no later than 1999, but it could start earlier. In the same way the reference to High School Musical in the Christmas picture episode means that since High School Musical came out in 2006, the show must go on to atleast 2006, but it could go on much later. The lasted reference to a specific time that I have seen was the mention of High School Musical which would place the latest episodes to at least 2006, although once again there could be later references to times, but 2006 is the latest reference to an actual physical time that I can remember being specifically mentioned in the series. This means that Bobby Hill was born no later than 1999 if he was at least 11 at time of the Y2K episode, and that also means he is at least 18 at the time of the Christmas Picture episode where Peggy makes a Reference to High School Musical, a movie aired in 2006. Please let me know what you think.Eronel189 (talk) 21:42, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

Mind paraphrasing that for us? OlYeller^Talktome 22:43, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

If they allowed the kids to age totally naturally they likely would've "aged out" of the show. Although I'm not totally sure the adults have aged in a totally natural fashion, they just tend not to mention their age.--T. Anthony (talk) 08:46, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

So Eronel189, you're suggesting that an 18 year old is in middle school? This is a fictional world of fictional characters. Each article is its own project so the precedent set (probably by you) on Cotton Hill doesn't apply here. It's a television show that uses real world events as themes or ideas for the show. The show started in 1995 so if you're suggesting he was a 4 year old middle school in the first episode, I think you've proven my point. OlYeller^Talktome 14:51, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Here's further evidence, published by FOX, that the age of the characters is not parallel with the real world. When Cotton Hill died, FOX published an obituary stating that his age is "unknown" even though his birth date is give (in KotH time) and his death date is implied (by Eronel's standards) by the air date.^[5][6] I'd say that's as close to a signal from FOX that we'll get about the non-parallel time line of the show. OlYeller^Talktome 15:04, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Page Clean Up

This page has several issues, most of which stem from Original Research and Speculation (see Wikipedia:No_original_research) and general copy editing that should be used to improve the style, quality, and formatting of the page (see Wikipedia:How_to_copy-edit). I've therefore added the cleanup and reference improvement tags to this page.

Particularly, the intro is way too long (as noted previously by another editor) and should be reduced to the basics about the character and key ways the character meets notability (you can read more about improving the lead here: Wikipedia:Lead section). Additionally, a cursory glance shows no references and original research and speculation in the article points (such as reasons why Bobby has not aged possibly being due to not wanting to change voice actors).

If other editors have other issues they would like to mention or suggest fixes to, please feel free to do so here.Luminum (talk) 06:19, 3 June 2009 (UTC)

I've tried to make some improvements.--T. Anthony (talk) 01:42, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

You Can’t say Bobby Hill was born in 1985.

What proof do you have to say Bobby Hill was born in 1985. The only source you cite for this claim is a Wikipedia article titled “King of the Hill”. That’s not proof. You cannot cite Wikipedia articles as reliable sources. That is not how Wikipedia works! Since King of the Hill does not take place in real time you cannot conclude he was born in 1985, unless you have a reliable source that states this.Eronel189 (talk) 22:46, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

Well there's two problems with your arguement.

• Refs don't have to have a source that's checkable online. If that were the case, every book referenced on Wikipedia would have to be available for free online. Just because it's not available at your fingertips immediately doesn't mean the citation isn't true and that and/or that it's not verifiable. That episode is easily found and definitely exists. (See WP:V)
• If we go by your citation standard, you also have no proof of his age so we must remove it completely.

Since you are wrong about the immediate availability of references, we won't have to defer to deleting his birth date. Please stop changing his age and date of birth. OlYeller^Talktome 02:37, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

Alright. I see that this is going to turn into a pointless edit war so I'm going to make one last revert and look for some outside opinions/edits. To be more clear about my point above regarding sources not needing to be immediately acceptable online, please see Wikipedia:Reliable_sources#Overview. OlYeller^Talktome 14:30, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

Bobby Hill's Age

Bobby Hill's Age is frustrating topic, I have never personally understood why Joseph Gribble gets visibly older throuought the series (http://kingofthehill.wikia.com/wiki/File:Joseph.jpg) as seen here in this link he gets facial hair gets taller which makes sense, but then we have bobby who seems to remain 11 12 years old even on the 14th birthday, it would have been interesting to see him age and mature rather than ending the series with him and hank connecting over bobby being able to properly identify meat. The best guess that can be given from my perspective is that bobby was born in 1988-89, this is because in the y2k episode he appears to be 12-13 years old as he does from the first time we see him and his family frowning together at the end of the intro to the last glimpse of him in the final sirloin episode. regardless of mental efforts on this topic there is no way we will ever know so we can just say everyone else got older and bobby stayed an obese 14 year old self proclaimed funny boy from the time we saw the first episode up until his death.. perhaps Robert Hill has access to the fountain of youth? side effects include weight gain increased appetite depletion of the frontal lobe and impairment in motor skills and coordination. It's pretty sad that in one of the episodes bobby could not peddle his bike with petite Connie on the pegs but yet she could ride just fine with him on them. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.63.104.217 (talk) 10:26, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

So we've been going round and round on this. The discussion has already taken place and it was decided that the timeline of the show is not parallel to the real world (see above). The birth date of the character was determined by an episode which is cited. The link you click on is to the King of the Hill Wikipedia page as you've noticed. It's only there to help show where the citation is from (the same way that the New York Times is linked to references printed in the New York Times).

Can we please discuss this here instead of each editing the page once a day? I've also reported the situation to the administrator's incident page so hopefully we'll get some help there. I won't edit the page back until then. Please discuss the issue here on the talk page. OlYeller^Talktome 14:27, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

The episode referenced does not say that he's born two years prior to the episode airing. To also show that the episodes do not take place in real time, in this episode, Cotton take Bobby out of school for Angie Dickinson's birthday which is on September 30th (not the air date of March 23rd, 1997).^[7]

Is it necessary to mention the year of birth, since the character has apparently been 13 years old for 12 years? (Disclaimer: I am not familiar with the TV show.) A parallel example would be The Simpsons where the characters also don't age (Bart has been 10 years old since 1987), and the Wikipedia articles about those characters cite no birth year. Consensus is obviously for 1985 as birth year for this character, and it certainly makes more sense than 1995 if the series started in 1997 and he was 12-13 then, but if there are no external sources for either year you might perhaps consider taking out the birth year altogether. --bonadea contributions talk 10:52, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

You make a good argument. I'm in for simply taking the birth date out completely. I'll go ahead and do it. OlYeller^Talktome 18:56, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Comedy Routine

I've searched all over the internet and all I can find is spoofs and political commentary. Someone please help me. WHO is Bobby emulating when he pulls up his shorts and walks around saying "Vat are you talking about? Vat are you talking about?" 68.84.58.186 (talk) 00:39, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure of the exact person, but I'm pretty sure it's an older Jewish comedian. Possibly Jackie Mason or someone from the Borscht Belt era.--T. Anthony (talk) 10:35, 11 April 2010 (UTC)

"Vat are you talking About", is a comedic stereotypical immitation of a confused elderly jewish man, the origins of who exactly created or who was imitated is unknown. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.237.9.126 (talk) 13:09, 2 May 2012 (UTC)

" generally not useful with his hands"

I do not feel that this description of Bobby is a major quality of his character. He is generally clumbsy and not good at house work. However, this is not a main feature. I see how it completes the idea of the comic foil to Hank, but if this detail is included, many more should be included as well. Dmalsobrook27 (talk) 18:52, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

Never known as Butch

The intro is misleading. Hank only gave him that nickname on a trophy either when he was very young or before he was born. It was never used in the show. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.165.244.71 (talk) 17:45, 11 July 2013 (UTC)