Highland



The main town/city of Highland County, Texas (see Trivia), where Beavis and Butt-head is set. It alternates between being a run-down, filthy, violent town to a moderately-sized normal city and all points in between, depending on the episode or comic it was in.

Daria Morgendorffer was a freshman at Highland High School there. Quinn refers to "the old house" (singular) in "Boxing Daria", indicating they'd lived in Highland for as long as she remembers.

Highland contains the Hope High school for juvenile delinquents, and several businesses including Buddy's Sporting Goods, a Burger World franchise, a mud wrestling bar ("Babes 'R' Us"), a strip club, a mall, and (briefly) a furrier ("Sign Here"); a number of local businessmen, led by Clark Cobb, had formed the Christian Businessmen's Association. President Clinton visited during a tour of American schools.

"It's a Miserable Life" attributes everything bad in Highland - and Daria's misanthropy - to the very existence of Butt-head.

In Daria, the town is referenced only once, in the first episode, "Esteemsters." Daria says there's "no chance" of Lawndale being a repeat of Highland "unless there's uranium in the drinking water here too".

Highland in fanfiction
Highland frequently shows up or is mentioned in Daria fanfiction - physical appearances are usually in fanfics set before Daria moved away, though sometimes return visits are paid. The odd alternate universe, like "Three" by Richard Lobinske, has Daria not leaving Highland. Many fanfics also take the "uranium" joke as fact, with various plot-handy consequences as a result ("It's a Sick, Sad, Sad, Sad World" by The Excellent S has the town abandoned and condemned).

The general depiction of Highland is run-down and generally crap.

Trivia
In an interview (see below), Beavis and Butt-head creator Mike Judge stated that Highland, to him, lay in West Texas or eastern New Mexico. This would finally make the jump from fanon to canon in 2011, when the episode "Bounty Hunters" showed a picture of then-Governor of Texas Rick Perry at the city post office. In the same year, "Crying" revealed that Highland is located in Highland County.