Latest Posts by harleyxhoward - Page 2

Aphrodite energy ✨️

rikki: star of the coming of age film

Aphrodite Anadyomene

🌊 The goddess rising out of the sea 🌊

'H2O: JUST ADD WATER'

rikki!!

Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. XI

🦗Emma🦗

Little Cricket, more regularly known as Emma, is a child star turned influencer who’s actress impressed me purely by taking a character I otherwise would roll my eyes at and making me adore and root for her.

Emma’s ability is size manipulation. Much like Alice in Wonderland, when she eats she grows, and when she makes herself vomit she shrinks. This is tethered to an eating disorder that’s been perfectly tailored by her mother’s obsessive hand. Her mother carries a tape measure around to make sure her daughter isn’t too small or too big, which makes for an obvious metaphor for the unloading of generational body image issues.

The most important aspect of Emma’s character is that in the Gen V S1 finale, it’s revealed that she can shrink by simply feeling small after Sam yelled at her. This proves that her ability isn’t truly dependent on food, but rather on the feeling of being too big or too small whenever she binges and purges.

-Psychology Major Moment-

“Killing Us Softly” is a series of documentaries put out by Jean Killbourne about the unsettling and frankly murderous nature of the beauty industry towards young women. Jean said in one of the documentaries something that stuck with me to this day, and reminds me deeply of Emma’s situation. She had said that while men are encouraged to be the largest of them all, the biggest man in every room they walk into, women are taught to be a perfect size 0, or in other words, “to not even exist”. Emma is repulsed by how huge she becomes after saving her friends, and ignores how in her giant form she’s stronger than Sam, capable of pressing him to the ground and holding him there with no obvious effort. She’s been indoctrinated and manipulated into truly believing that being petite is being valuable, and I’m praying that come the end of the show we get to see her become a giant woman yet again.

This whole ordeal reminded me so much of “I Like Giants” by Kimya Dawson, purely because when all is said and done, she’s a kickass hero and devoted best friend to Marie, but even then “all girls feel too big sometimes, regardless of their size”.

crane wives album covers i did for a class last year! hoping to get the other ones done before beyond beyond beyond comes out

Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. X

💎Cate Dunlap💎

Cate’s one of my favorite onscreen villains, seeing as how she takes the whole Queen of Mean trope and gives an audience something to worry about.

Cate’s ability is a tactile form of mind control, along with a seemingly unstable form of telepathy. While she can read minds, she seems to have difficulty fully controlling the individual thoughts she wants to pay attention to. I’m assuming this is from her relying on power suppressants which made her rusty at mind reading, especially since she seems to be off the pills and completely fine now.

I would imagine that at the point of the V in her system giving her this ability, she would have just been coming into her own as a woman in a world that tells young girls to hyper-obsess about their social impact on the world around them. Imagine if you shot a young Regina George up with Compound V. Wouldn’t having the ability to read the minds of her teenage subjects and force them to think, believe, and do whatever she wants by placing a guiding hand on their shoulder be a perfect mutation for her body to produce?

Having the ability to command people to do her dirty work based solely on touch, Cate relies on the fact that her beauty and unassuming nature would allow her to get close enough to touch any potential opponent. This way of thinking reminds me of Glimmer from “The Hunger Games”, seeing as how in the books, she attempted to sneak in a diamond ring that, upon unscrewing the jewel, revealed a poisoned spike. A weapon like that wielded in a battle royale style death match is unimaginably arrogant and short sighted. While it may seem cunning, her entire battle strategy hinged on her beauty and ability to draw close enough to another tribute while their guard was down to prick them with a mini spike. Cate, regardless of her own agency in the matter, shares a similar viewpoint. It wasn’t until Marie blew up her arm that she was forced to confront the fact that, when her reach is snubbed by a legitimately strong influence, she’s ultimately powerless.

The ultimate tragedy of her character is a lack of true intimacy. After she unwittingly compelled her little brother to disappear in a forest and “get lost”, to which his body was never found, her parents were horrified to do so much as touch their own daughter. When she was with Luke she repeatedly mind controlled him, and she ended up doing the same to Andre. Anyone and everyone she gets close to will inevitably fear that the ungloved intimacy they share with her is inauthentic, which creates a cruel cycle of her feeling the need to compel the people around her to forget all of the horrible things she’s done.

This is the exact play that Dean Shetty makes on her. Understanding and even aiding to curate Cate fears of her powers and whether the only reason people would ever love her is because she’s making them do so, Shetty is one of the few characters to consistently touch Cate. This shifts the dynamic between the two of them, and while it initially seemed to be done out of kindness, you very quickly understand that Shetty’s touch was equally manipulative as Cate’s.

Cate’s seemingly a pathological liar and manipulator, appearing unable to discern her own lies from Vought’s narrative. She’s both a pawn and a player, but I believe this next season will prove her to come out as a hero and unlikely ally to Marie and the true Guardians of Godolkin.

Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. IX (Campbell Edition)

🚀Hughie🚀

Hughie’s honestly such a lovable character in my opinion, so seeing him get to shoot up with Temp V was so pleasureful for me.

While the first episode establishes he lost his girlfriend in an instant from A-Train running through her, he was left holding her severed hands on the sidewalk. He had been searching for a way from that point on to find out how to grab the people he cares about and instantaneously escape from danger.

This is where teleportation comes in. He’s capable of teleporting himself or anyone he’s holding onto away from a crisis, the same way he couldn’t do for Robin. He uses this to aid Butcher in Russia, Annie from Soldier Boy, and even Mindstorm that one time. In every scenario he’s squeamish while being made to fight, and instead opts to blink in and out, in a useful manner. His ability is inherently complimentary to another fighter, or at least his application of it is.

While he forgoes injecting himself with Temp V to help Annie fight in the S3 finale due to the lethal health effects of another dose, his newfound “ability” is supporting his significant other while she kicks ass.

👤Hugh Sr.👤

Hughie’s father had a minor role, and yet, analyzing his ability provides more clarification on the nature of Compound V’s effects on individuals.

After being resuscitated from brain death by Compound V, he was initially fine with no changes, until he discovered his ability to phase through solid objects. He walked through hospital walls, cutting through patients in a gory body horror scenario. As he states, his wife Daphne abandoned him with their child son, walking through Hugh Sr. like he didn’t even exist to her. He is now capable of mimicking the person who hurt him most, much like Butcher.

In the case of Maverick, Andre, and kind of Ryan, they all match their specific abilities of their supe fathers exactly. This is because they were all babies when they were injected/born with V. This may imply that had Hugh been injected and gained intangibility, and then had Hughie injected as a baby, Hughie would have mimicked Hugh instead of developing his own ability.

To make matters potentially even more fascinating, intangibility and teleportation aren’t entirely unrelated powers. Both include averting danger by supernatural escape means. While both can escape harm, Hughie can blink away from danger, while Hugh is forced to trudge through solid terrain, much like how when Daphne left, he was forced to endure the pain of her leaving. However, when Robin died, Hughie had to watch as everything ended in the blink of an eye.

Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. VIII

🇬🇧S3 Billy Butcher🇬🇧

England’s debatably worst man alive, Billy Butcher experienced the loss of his wife after Homelander rapes her and Vought spirits her away to a hidden home for her to raise the bastard son of The Homelander. All the while, Butcher assumed she had taken her own life after the assault, and swore vengeance on Homelander ever since.

After shooting up with Temporary Compound V in S3, Butcher receives abilities reminiscent of Homelander’s, namely his iconic optic beams. Butcher inheriting the abilities of the man he hates most on this earth could very well stem from the fact that, at the time of injection, he believed that had he been The Homelander, had he shared a fraction of that strength, he could have protected his wife from him all those years ago.

Additionally, after being reunited with Becca in S2, she’s killed by Ryan’s optic beams in a freak accident involving an immortal nazi. Butcher is an envious, spiteful, miserable person, so him essentially duplicating the skill sets of the people who took Becca from him makes complete and utter sense, especially when him mimicking these abilities would ultimately make him even more self loathing, now that he shares something with the thing that killed the love of his life.

🦠S4 Billy Butcher🦠

After injecting himself with Compound V following his terminal illness diagnosis and being given a few months to live, Butcher develops the ability to seemingly project tendrils of cancerous material out from his body and use them as tentacles.

I believe this is indicative of him perceiving all the evil he’s done as spreading like his cancer. He’s infected and kept Hughie, MM, and Frenchie doing his dirty work despite their attempts to move on an live their lives, sure, but something the show fails to analyze is how Homelander seemingly raped Becca as a power move. Before meeting Butcher, Becca had worked with Homelander for years without any issues when she was an employee at Vought. Then a few days after he meets Butcher, he rapes her in a backroom to “assert his dominance”. Butcher may have understood this after obsessing over the tapes since 2011, and always assumed that his presence in her life ultimately led to its tragic end.

While S3 had Butcher trying to match Homelander’s might, S4 shows him embracing his own wickedness, all while viewing himself as being defined by his spreading evil he can now emanate out and “spread” to others.

Just wanted to say that your supe power analyses for The Boys characters are genius. Truly just well thought out and put together. I love analyzing things like this but am hardly able to put it into words and you did that so well. Great posts. Hope you have a good day! 😎👍❤️

Thank you so much! I appreciate that you don’t think I’m overthinking! This specific trope of characters getting abilities indicative of their personalities is one of my all time favorite things to read into, so I’m glad to hear someone else enjoys it!

The Umbrella Academy S4 (thoughts & opinions)

- HOT TAKE: The issue I had with Five and Lila getting together wasn’t the bizarre age gap or insensitivity of Five sleeping with his brother’s wife, but how they don’t resolve the tension properly before they all cease to exist. Specifically Diego and Five don’t get to hold hands the way Lila and Five did, even though it wasn’t really up to Lila to “forgive” Five, but whatever. I thought that had this affair been treated with an ounce of consideration it would reveal a lot more about both characters shared desperation for affection and emotional stimulation. Five spent decades in complete social isolation to the point where he legitimately fell in love with a mannequin and you want me to believe that, given the similar scenario that most certainly triggered the same “well I guess I’m stuck in this shit now for an indefinite amount of time” area of his brain, he wouldn’t have resorted to falling in love with the fist available person regardless of what it meant outside of the subway? Lila too seemed to get with Diego because while they did click in S2, she had never lived a life that allowed her to experience romance or starting a family like she could with Diego. She pumped out three kids to seemingly force herself to enjoy what she knows could be taken away from her at the throwing of a time traveling briefcase, but her behavior this season is baffling because what do you mean after seven years of searching for a way home she never once brings up missing those three children until the opportunity to return home presents itself? She tries to wipe her hands of the situation, but then the show just kind of ends without meaningful conclusion, so…

- The ending was sloppy. I know you know that, but my issue wasn’t the actual end. The Hargreeves having to sacrifice themselves in a way indicative of the S1 finale makes perfect sense, especially with the painfully shallow Five Diner down in that unexplained subway station where they all indirectly allude to the fact that there’s never a condition where at least one of the family doesn’t end the world. Had the Fives took time to explain that each Hargreeve possesses earth shattering abilities that eventually snowball out of control regardless of the condition, and all resistance is futile, I would accept that the ending makes more sense than just blaming the marigold despite the fact that Victor can/has been able to syphon marigold out of people, and could’ve just taken it all himself but you know, whatever.

- I also deeply resent that a show about familial trauma and bonding despite the shared adversity ultimately concluded on everyone giving up. No. You don’t get to say that they “didn’t just give up” because yes, them saying “oh no, well, there’s ten minutes left of the episode, guess we should cease to exist now” is the definition of not even trying to venture down into the subway as a family and fix the other timelines one at a time, using their newfound familial unity to solve every timeline until they converge into one. I’m not saying that needed to happen at all, or that they should have succeeded even if they tried, but AT LEAST THEN THEY WOULD HAVE TRIED. The writers gave up, the characters gave up, and the metaphor of grief and family issues the show spent so long to cultivate were just abandoned.

- Klaus regressed with no substantial reason or impact other than to provide slapstick humor and comedic relief antics that didn’t amount to any of what he had spent the last few seasons building and working towards. Ben shouldn’t have been brought back after his noble and meaningful sacrifice of S2 only to be made into the most obnoxious version of himself. Allison didn’t even get to say “I heard a rumor” this season nor did she address attempting to sexually assault Luther, and Diego’s relationship with Lila was the absolute worst case scenario for both characters. Viktor was the only one with an arc worth watching this season, which is why I thought him having a solo sacrifice would have been even more gut wrenching but whatever.

- There is an insurmountable amount of plot holes that prove this show just got lazy. There should be a kugelblitz in the finale’s timeline. If Lila/Allison were never born then there could never be Grace/Lila’s children. You don’t get to say “well what about the subway” because that doesn’t protect them from the grandfather paradox, unless outright stated which the writers didn’t even bother to do.

- Why didn’t they just kill Jennifer? Who put her in the squid? If it was Reggie’s wife then why didn’t she just kill her? Why didn’t Reggie kill her when he built the town to “protect” her? Why did she react with pure terror when shown the squid? How did Jean and Gene get their hands on it? Was it a normal giant squid or an alien? Was it her mother? No, because then how did she speak English when she emerged from its stomach? Why did she say “the cleanse” like she knew what it meant when she didn’t? Ben should’ve been able to remember in the OG timeline how he died because absolutely every other spirit does and the show can’t just rewrite its own lore to cater to a last minute subplot that went nowhere. I don’t want to be mean but Jennifer never should have existed as a S4 add in because she did absolutely nothing for the plot other than confusing the audience with the persistent question of why didn’t they just kill her to prevent the cleanse from happening. Reginald said one of them had to die, but in the OG timeline he killed both just to be…cruel? What’s the point of writing that it just had to be one of them if you’re just going to act like it’s a package deal? This entire plot line made me truly believe this season was written by AI, I’m sorry.

Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. VII (Blood Sisters Edition)

*mention of Marie’s self harm, she’s the second section*

🤯Victoria Neuman🤯

“Diva Down” was the cry I bellowed at the S4 finale. One of my favorite characters gone by the hands of a pesky man. Please pause for a moment of silence.

Victoria’s ability to manipulate blood was tethered to her vision, which is the main part I’ll be focusing on. While she can make people’s heads explode, she must see her targets clearly in order to be able to do so. This ironically stems from her general “blindness” in terms of the consequences of her actions. As I previously berated her for, her careless injection of Compound V into her daughter came at a price she could have avoided had she not been so proud.

Additionally, her murdering congressmen and ultimately threatening and killing anyone and everyone who stood in her way made her a true loose cannon, especially since The Boys now have nothing on her. With her secret out, it was only a matter of time before she popped someone’s head in that room, and Butcher still defended his team, regardless of the symbiote situation he has going on.

Vicky’s bloodlust and situational blindness prove to be the main reason why her abilities manifested the way they did.

🩸Marie Moreau🩸

Another one of my favorites who possesses a similar ability to Vicky, Marie proved that with the right cultivation, she can be far more powerful than people give her credit for.

Marie’s abilities seem to be the result of her resentment of and mourning of her own familial structure. She feels like she “lost her blood” in losing her family, so she’s now able to manipulate the blood of others, along with blood letting/self harming in order to create tendrils of blood. While she reasons that this practice is “just her power”, it’s evident she uses this as an outlet to express her perceived powerlessness in the world. Despite a kickass power, she’s been at the mercy of Red River, GodU, Vought, and every government system her whole life. Marie’s a girl who needs release, and she turns to a literal shedding of her familial tethers by releasing her blood.

Both Marie and Vicky have great durability and a wide range of abilities, but while Victoria settled on her explosive, immediate power to put an end to her opponents, Marie opts to perform more invasive and creative maneuvers, insinuating that while they could have done the same things, Vicky was “blinded” by the immediate gratification of success, while Marie willfully seeks out solutions to a wider range of issues, this cementing her as the hero in the end.

Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. VI

🐍Zoe Neuman🐍

Zoe, growing up in both a multiethnic and affluent home, is both marginalized and privileged in a myriad of ways. Her ethnicity, along with her mother’s, is never acknowledged outright on the show. For all we know, the directors could have cast white actresses for the both of them and the core of my analysis would be null and void, but I believe the fact they aren’t white provides a certain layer of tragedy to Zoe’s character in particular.

Going off of personal experience in uppity East Coast spaces, Zoe’s presumably one of few ethnic children in her social circle. While she’s debatably white passing, this would undoubtedly have led to numerous instances of her facing prejudice and most likely teasing of various kinds.

This is where her unique ability of generating snake-like tentacles from her mouth presents itself. Her being injected as a preteen means her body analyzed her current surroundings and decided what she needed most at this stage in her life was some form of aggressive defense that could come from her mouth. This most likely resulted from her being mocked, teased, harassed, or discriminated against, and wishing there was a way her “sharp tongue” could actually cut them. Now with these serpents that expel themselves from her mouth, she’s capable of holding her own against anyone who wishes to insult or berate her.

Her being subjected to Red River felt like karmic irony, Victoria injecting her in adolescence* because she decided having any ability at all would be better than being powerless. I’ve mulled over this decision from Vicky, but ultimately settled on it being near sighted and power hungry on her end. She knew full well that Compound V resulted in the death of her own parents, and could very well have given Zoe a disastrous mutation, if not killing her in a long, drawn out body horror scenario. Even Stan Edgar was repulsed and horrified at the idea that Victoria would stoop so low as to inject Zoe with V, which put the gravity of the situation into perspective.

Vicky additionally knew that, while she was getting herself tangled up in Vought and Homelander, that her life was on the chopping block, and if she died, Samir wouldn’t be able to fend off Firecracker, let alone all of Vought’s forces. This would, assuming Homelander didn’t execute her daughter, land Zoe in the same place Vicky ended up after the death of her parents, which is exactly what happened.

While this seemed unfair at first, I saw it more so as a cautionary tale of what corruption does to a person. Vicky wasn’t satisfied with what she had, and strived for absolute power at the expense of her daughter’s well being. The shift from a loving mother willing to give her child the world to a power hungry tyrant injecting her daughter with a potentially lethal drug to turn her into a #girlboss didn’t happen randomly. I can imagine every thought that went through Vicky’s head as she decided to this to Zoe, especially explaining away the consequences as trivial costs to her daughter’s safety.

My response to that, aside from it not panning out how Victoria intended, is to look no farther than Kris Jenner with Kim Kardashian. In both mother-daughter duos a power/money hungry mother mutates/exposes her child all in the name of giving her a “better life” at the cost of robbing her of her agency and ultimately her humanity. Society blames Kim for perpetuating beauty standards, all of which were thrust upon her by a mother who just wanted a bigger mansion.

*The horror of Vicky’s decision stems mostly from the fact that the older you are, the worse the mortality rates/negative mutations are with V injections. Stan and Vicky already knew this, and it’s why people were contemplating whether Ashley would die at the end of S4 or not. Babies appear to be more malleable, and while some gain adverse mutations, they’re hardly ever lethal, and may even be tailored to Vought’s liking (so it seems).*

Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. V

💥Firecracker💥

Firecracker/Misty is one of my favorite additions to the show in S4, mostly because I enjoyed having a legitimate redpill influencer be depicted in the show outside of Stormfront.

Misty’s ability is a very minor form of explosion generation, taking the form of small sparks that are summoned from her snapping her fingers. This ability seems to be the result of her initially meek and insecure temperament in early adolescence that’s since mutated into an inferno of overconfidence that could very well seal her fate.

As we learn, she hates Starlight/Annie because back when they would do superhero pageants together, Annie was a pageant diva who spread a false rumor that Misty had performed lewd acts to get as far as she did in the competition. This ousted Misty from ever competing again, delegating her to a solid D-lister with a shitty power. This interaction ultimately puts both characters into perspective of one another. Both of their abilities center around light and ultimately visible perception, but while Annie relished in the limelight by shoving others out of her way, Misty was dependent on minor details to “spark” her way to glory. She relies on clipping truths and stringing together irrelevant info to create patchwork stories of misinformation she can sell to her fanbase.

As she puts it, she sells them purpose, making them believe that they’re a part of something worth fighting for instead of simple cogs in a corporate machine. Misty’s light doesn’t lead or guide like Annie’s, despite the fact it had the full potential to. Her light dissuades and confuses, flickering momentarily, just long enough to lure someone in her direction, only for it to fizzle out when they would attempt to examine it further. This is exactly how I view her conspiracy theories, giving her audience bread crumbs of truth without being able to provide ample evidence of their credibility.

Misty, like her ability, cares about details, so much so to the point where you could argue her true ability is being able to spin any situation back into a redpilled hate campaign to better suit her own agenda. She words every statement she gives the press carefully, riling up the masses while being able to turn suspicion away from herself, even when outed for sleeping with a 15 year old boy when she was 28. She took this mindset and used it to seduce Homelander, understanding that her breast milk could lure him in, but much like her sparks, it would only ever be a temporary source.

Misty is a perfect embodiment of the she-devil residing in the details, seeing as how one spark was capable of launching the entire United States into a tyrannical state of marital law.

Hi! I just wanted to write that your idea to analyze the cause of the emergence of certain abilities of the Boys' and Gen V's characters is simply amazing. I've often thought about it myself. Thanks! Will you write Homelander's analysis? And about all-all-all with abilities!

Ahhh, thank you!

I do intend on exploring more characters, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted ‘omelander to be a grand finale or if he should round out the main series characters. Decisions decisions

Stay tuned… ;)

Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. IV

🫀A-Train🫀

From the fastest man alive to one of America’s most wanted, A-Train/Reggie has known nothing but stress and urgency his entire life. Despite his relatively laid back demeanor he leads with most of the time, under the surface of his douchey jock persona is a vulnerable and terrified individual. Him being a speedster seems to be the result of the Compound V (acting as a form of instant evolution for most patients) giving him the ability to escape gunfire by outrunning the bullets when he was younger. This story foreshadows his future, with the issues he’s constantly outrunning increasing in severity until the shift from internal struggles of addiction and balancing his public persona with his personal love of Popclaw, to external survival issues like Homelander and the rest of Vought.

His redemption arc plays itself out to juxtapose The Deep. While both characters harmed Hughie/Annie deeply in the first episode alone, A-Train goes on to feel remorse and even tries to make up for it. He risks his life by being the leak in order to make amends for everything he’s done. The fact that he saw Ashley as someone worth saving meant something remarkably significant to me about how their characters both feel trapped at Vought despite the tremendous power they both wield. Ashley’s quite literally the CEO of one of the most influential corporations on the planet, and yet she behaves like a cockroach, even at times being reduced to crawling on the floor to appease Homelander when attempting to leave the room. A-Train is the fastest man alive, and yet he feels powerless to put an end to Vought’s tyranny up until the end of S4. When he finally strikes The Deep and makes it evident that they are two opposite sides of what once was the same coin, he revealed to the audience that regardless of having Blue Hawk’s heart beating in his chest, his heart’s still in the right place. Ultimately, it’s this desperation to right his wrongs and “escape” his still potentially deadly fate that make me view his speed as being a fitting ability for his character to inherit.

Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. III

🐬The Deep🐬

The Peak Deep is such a fascinating character due to his utter pathetic excuse for being a superhero. While S4 shows off his strength, durability, and combat abilities, he’s referred to quite accurately as being “just the fish guy” by Annie.

While his abilities appear versatile, him both being able to breathe underwater and speak to aquatic life, they come at the major cost of him being robbed of his humanity by having grown gills in adolescence. This mutation is repeatedly referred to as disgusting by other people, and by his own psyche, all of this acting as a veiled metaphor for the thralls of puberty.

What I find interesting though is how he uses his ability to speak to marine life to have…relations with an octopus in a way that states he’s done this with other aquatic life before. The unfortunate, and honestly tragic aspect of his character is that he has this relationship, and it’s the most dynamic and mutually respectful he has out of every other character he interacts with in the show. This relationship with octopus-Tilda Swinton, Ambrosius, feels so organic because at his core, he believes that humans don’t get him, and I would even go so far as to say he believes this all makes him “subhuman”. He was the fish guy with freakish gills who thought the only way he could catch a date was by manipulating them or relying on his fame and connections. Despite the fact that HE’S in the Seven, he prattles on about how close he is to Homelander, implying that he never viewed his success as legitimate, especially when he has to hide the source of his abilities (his gills) from the world. Much like Noir, they both share aspects of their identity that Vought’s repulsed by, or at the very least resentful of. This may be why McDreamy Noir and him became as close as they did, and could be why Ashley felt so comfortable being verbally hostile to him; he’s so ashamed of who he is and what Compound V made him into he feels like he deserves it.

The Compound V itself gave him the ability to communicate with a world that goes unnoticed and unheard by everyone else. The most heartbreaking aspect of his character is that so many people could relate to his exact plight. When the V kicked in, he was a weird little boy who needed friends. For many of you reading this, that was in the form of internet friends, but in this world, little Kevin found fish, and was able to become part of their world.

Regardless of the origin of his character, his impulsiveness, simple mindedness, and blind devotion to Homelander borders on animalistic at times, this behavior mirroring a loyal pet subservient to a master. Once he fully embraces this role as a drone to his “owner”, he slays octopus-Tilda Swinton in a way symbolic to his own shunning of morality and conscience. His abilities tether him to nature, and yet he’s one of the most corrupt, industrialized men in the show. Any chance he has at redemption he squanders, which proves the point that it’s a fish eat fish ocean, and he understands he’s nowhere near the shark Homelander is.

Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. II (Indestructiblity)

⚔️Maeve⚔️

I like to view Queen Maeve as a litmus test for The Boys fans. It’s either you’re a straight man (the target audience) and you kind of hate her, or you’re gay (the unintended yet equally sizable audience) and you adore the mommydom roleplay Dominque was doing with Jack onscreen for the world to see.

Either way, Queen Maeve is indestructible, the opening sequence (as shown above) showing that not even an armored trucked can phase her as her body is used as a shield, cutting through the vehicle without a scratch. All of this is to say that while she’s physically unable to be harmed or bested, even standing up against Homelander in S3, she’s vulnerable in her own ways. For the majority of the show, she was the only member of the Seven who experienced remorse for the things they’d done (outside of Annie of course), which frames her as being more humane than her comrades.

Her fling with Homelander’s equally interesting, implying that while her ability matched him to some degree, it’s that Teflon mentality that drew them together, before she probably understood that he hasn’t caught on that Supes are still people in the end. Ironically, she’s one of the few Supes we meet who doesn’t have a god complex, despite her referencing DC’s resident goddess, Wonder Woman

♟️Black Noir♟️

Black Noir/Erving’s a super soldier. Obedient, silent, lethal, and according to Homelander, one of the captain’s best friends. This all comes at the obvious cost of Noir being an aspiring superhero back in the 1980s who had a fateful mission down in Nicaragua. One thing led to the next and he was severely injured, left with little cognitive functioning. As “The Boys:Diabolical” revealed, it was Noir who taught Homelander the first rule of being a Supe in this world; it doesn’t matter what happened, what matters is what you tell the press.

The characters with indestructibility are jaded, being forced to view the world’s greatest hardships and atrocities only to come out unscathed and progressively unfazed. We never see them get nearly as afraid or uncomfortable as the others, mostly due to this ability. However, we do have evidence that Noir mourned the boy he was with Replacement McDreamy Noir assessing that not only did OG Noir keep files of Buster Beaver (knockoff Chucky Cheese) in his closet, but despite the vague ninja motifs in his branding, he never learned martial arts at all.

With both Maeve and Noir, the issues were seldom physical and always tied back to identity. Maeve’s sexuality being used as a bargaining chip and Noir face/ethnicity not being deemed worthy of confirmation despite Erving’s early wishes. He was trained to view his identity as a burden so that the only person who could truly hurt him outside of Homelander/Soldier Boy would be himself imagining the star he could have been if things turned out slightly differently.

Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. I

⭐️Starlight⭐️

Annie’s definitely one of my favorites and I think her ability’s one of the more straight forward of the cast. She’s photokinetic, but for the brunt of the show she’s entirely dependent on synthetic/inorganic light. Without this electrical, manmade light she was “powerless”, and at the beginning of Season 4, she fully lost her ability to channel this light whatsoever. This is all symbolic of her perceived reliance on the limelight to stay relevant and important. She was raised on paparazzi shots and baptized in spotlights, so up until more recently that was the only “power source” she had. I like to imagine that now, specifically because the S4 finale didn’t show her draining the car while Hughie was driving, she’s drawing on either natural light to hint at her newfound desire for authenticity and hard truths, or internal light to draw on her own resilience and self actualization she gained through strangling a doppelgänger that taunted her lack of identity.

I kind of want to do a series going through the different abilities of The Boys/Gen V characters and analyzing how/why they have what they have…

Thinking about Victoria Neuman. Thinking about how she grew up in a world that refused to accept her as a WOC, so Stan took advantage of that to morph her into a hitgirl. Thinking about how the only way she imagined abolishing prejudice and carving out a better world for her daughter being hostile takeover.

Married Gods 💍

Amphitrite (Queen of the Sea) & Poseidon (God of the Sea, Storms, Earthquakes, and Horses)

Amphitrite kids 🪸Shy 🪸Accomplished 🪸Hate conflict 🪸Prefer old movies and classic lit over anything contemporary

Poseidon kids 🔱Problems with authority 🔱Chill af 🔱Do NOT have their shit together 🔱Somehow everything works out for them

Aphrodite (Goddess of Love and Beauty) & Hephaestus (God of the Forge, Craftsmen, Volcanoes and Fire)

Aphrodite kids ❤️Mad gossips ❤️Discerning ❤️Hate your ex on your behalf ❤️Reality dating shows = bloodsport

Hephaestus kids 🔥Cynical 🔥Brilliant 🔥Need to touch grass sometimes 🔥Great in a crisis

Ariadne (Goddess of Labyrinths and Paths) & Dionysus (God of Wine, Madness and Ecstasy)

Ariadne kids 🧶Bighearted 🧶Resourceful 🧶Abandonment issues 🧶Use a planner religiously

Dionysus kids 🍇Don’t care what other people think 🍇Excellent cooks 🍇Commit to the bit 🍇Will randomly drop off the face of the earth with no explanation

Demeter (Goddess of Agriculture and Harvest) & Karmanor (God of Harvest)

Demeter kids 🌱Authoritative 🌱Slightly unhinged 🌱Can’t stand lazy people 🌱Love being outdoors

Karmanor kids 🌾Community-oriented 🌾Not afraid to get their hands dirty 🌾Obsessed with their local farmer’s market 🌾Indecisive

Epione (Goddess of Soothing Pain) & Asclepius (God of Healing and Medicine)

Epione kids 💊Compassionate 💊Great listeners 💊Clueless when it comes to fashion 💊Can always spot a lie

Asclepius kids 🩺Sleep-deprived 🩺Log major volunteer hours 🩺Trustworthy 🩺Tend to hyperfixate on their current interest

Hera (Goddess of Marriage, Women, Family, and Childbirth; Queen of the Gods) & Zeus (God of the Sky, Lightning, and Thunder; King of the Gods)

Hera kids 🦚Formidable 🦚Know what they want 🦚Never quite satisfied 🦚Love a fancy restaurant

Zeus kids ⚡️Leadership Potential™️ ⚡️Strong sense of existential dread ⚡️No chill ⚡️Fear them

Iris (Goddess of Rainbows and Messenger of Olympus) & Zephyros (God of the Gentle West Wind and Spring)

Iris kids 🌈Peacekeepers, moderators 🌈Kind of woo-woo 🌈#1 enemy of climate change deniers 🌈Maximalism > minimalism

Zephyros kids 🌷Sweethearts 🌷Aspire to a cottagecore lifestyle 🌷Give great compliments 🌷Constantly flake on plans

Keto (Goddess of Sea Monsters) & Phorcys (God of the Hidden Dangers of the Deep)

Keto kids 🦑Love to learn 🦑Always telling you about the latest conspiracy theory 🦑Enthusiastic 🦑Easily offended

Phorcys kids 🐟Tricksters 🐟Know how to work a crowd 🐟Original thinkers 🐟Hot-headed

Persephone (Goddess of Springtime and Queen of the Underworld) & Hades (God of the Dead and Riches; King of the Underworld)

Persephone kids 🌹Kind 🌹Major seasonal depression 🌹Strong sense of stranger danger 🌹Value stability

Hades kids 💀Principled, diligent 💀Caffeine addiction 💀Won’t make direct eye contact 💀Cool under pressure

Psyche (Goddess of the Human Soul) & Eros (God of Erotic Love, Affection and Desire)

Psyche kids 🌟Empathetic 🌟Determined 🌟Major trust issues 🌟Don't like attention

Eros kids 💘Overdramatic 💘Protective 💘Everyone is obsessed with them 💘Serial monogamists

The Muses

Nine goddesses who preside over inspiration, the sciences, the arts, and literature

Calliope: Muse of Epic Poetry

Calliope kids ✍️In charge ✍️Pull a concerning amount of all-nighters ✍️Will roast you to your face if necessary ✍️Cerebral

Clio: Muse of History

Clio kids 📜Bookish 📜Love a guided tour 📜Stubborn 📜Make everyone around them feel recognized and valued

Erato: Muse of Love Poetry

Erato kids 💕Masters of the wistful sigh 💕Unrealistic relationship expectations 💕Thoughtful 💕Love their local library

Euterpe: Muse of Music and Lyric Poetry

Euterpe kids 🎶Persevering 🎶“A pleasure to have in class” 🎶Don’t want to settle down in their hometown 🎶God complex

Melpomene: Muse of Tragedy

Melpomene kids 🎭Confident 🎭Can’t beat the theater kid allegations 🎭Always up for an ill-advised plan 🎭Have a great memory

Polyhymnia: Muse of Hymns and Oratory

Polyhymnia kids 🙏VERY into their special interests 🙏Serious 🙏Always know the right thing to say 🙏Self-sacrificing

Terpsichore: Muse of Dance and Choral Songs

Terpsichore kids 🩰They can groove, baby 🩰Disciplined 🩰Overly self-critical 🩰Make a new playlist for every occasion

Thalia: Muse of Comedy

Thalia kids 🤣Memes for days 🤣Deeply unserious 🤣Want their therapist to like them 🤣Cool shoes

Urania: Muse of Astronomy

Urania kids 🪐Own too many houseplants 🪐Can guess your astrological sign on sight 🪐Overthinkers 🪐Give great advice

Wind Gods

Boreas, Eurus, Notus, and Zephyros, the four Anemoi, serve Aeolus, Master of the Winds

Aeolus: Master of the Winds

Aeolus kids 🌬️Moody 🌬️Big goals 🌬️Always ready with an unhinged hot take 🌬️Seem to have watched every TV show ever made

Boreas: God of the North Wind and Winter

Boreas kids 🌨️Drama-free zones 🌨️Stoic 🌨️Refuse to keep up with trends  🌨️Always win trivia nights

Eurus: God of the East Wind and Autumn

Eurus kids 🍁Introverts 🍁Overly-complicated coffee shop orders 🍁Prefer big cities over small towns 🍁Universally liked

Notus: God of the South Wind and Summer

Notus kids 🕶️Charismatic 🕶️Know how to get things done 🕶️Anger management issues 🕶️Passionate about their hobbies

Zephyros: God of the Gentle West Wind and Spring

Zephyros kids 🌷Sweethearts 🌷Aspire to a cottagecore lifestyle 🌷Give great compliments 🌷Constantly flake on plans

Chaos Twins²

Ares & Enyo, twin brother and sister, gods of war + Phobos & Deimos, twin sons of Ares and Aphrodite, gods of fear

Ares: God of War

Ares kids ⚔️Brash ⚔️Tell it like it is ⚔️Think everything is funny ⚔️#1 fan of their professional sports team of choice

Enyo: Goddess of War, Destruction, and Devastation

Enyo kids 💣Highly competent 💣Adrenaline junkies 💣Hate being ignored 💣More is more

Phobos: God of Personal Fear, Panic, and Rout

Phobos kids 🌫️Intimidating 🌫️Perceptive 🌫️Prefer one-on-one hangouts over big group plans 🌫️Love true crime podcasts

Deimos: God of Terror, Panic, and Dread

Deimos kids 😱INTIMIDATING 😱Big egos 😱Masterminds of the group chat 😱Love video games

Aglaïa: Goddess of Beauty, Splendor, Glory, and Adornment

Aglaïa kids 💎Carefree 💎Masters of constructive feedback 💎Brazen 💎Liked it before it was cool

No Cabin Assigned Yet Link in bio for more Aglaïa info 💎

𝐴𝑃𝐻𝑅𝑂𝐷𝐼𝑇𝐸 𝑃𝑂𝑁𝑇𝐼𝐴

☾﹏﹏𝐴𝑝ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑒𝑎 ﹏﹏☽

Aphrodite: Goddess of Love and Beauty

Aphrodite kids ❤️Mad gossips ❤️Discerning ❤️Hate your ex on your behalf ❤️Reality dating shows = bloodsport

Cabin 10 Roman Aspect: Venus Link in bio for more Aphrodite info ❤️

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRokeMFQ/

EVERYONE WATCH THIS EDIT RN!!!!!