bisexualhomelander

[bisexualhomelander]

Alright, let's put it in the official speculation tag. I am not 100% sure that it will be Ryan who does it, but I doubt the Jenga tower was a coincidence because these people know their audience and know we will hyperanalyse every bit of content we get.

So: That Tower is coming down, one way or another. Calling it now, calling it early.

I am at a point of Season 5 obsession where the wrap party photo of Cameron Crovetti with the Jenga tower makes me go: ah yes, Ryan tears Vought Tower down.

Someone publish this season, I am not making it another year without content.

[bisexualhomelander]

I am at a point of Season 5 obsession where the wrap party photo of Cameron Crovetti with the Jenga tower makes me go: ah yes, Ryan tears Vought Tower down.

Someone publish this season, I am not making it another year without content.

[bisexualhomelander]

Now that I think about it, it would have been very interesting to have her try and pop Butcher's vessels, tentacles, any part of him and it not working because his blood is so corrupted by the tumour her powers can't reach him anymore.

It's pure black sludge in him.

And that moment of surprise would have been enough to kill her. It would have saved us her very lacklustre death where she wasn't allowed an ounce of the power she wielded.

And would have made Butcher a different beast, too.

But alas, all we got was wrap-things-around-eyes-to-incapacitate. Truly the most disappointing character demise on this show.

Cr @robloxmilf

[bisexualhomelander]

I'm preaching to the choir here, of course, because none of what I'm writing is news yadda yadda, we all knew this, but I wanted to have my thoughts on it in written form somewhere, so here we go:

I think that the torture and isolation was not, in fact, to develop his powers further. It was mostly curiosity about what a supe can take without dying + self-protective measures with indoctrination.

It is telling that Barbara says their biggest achievement was not "creating the strongest supe" but "making him complacent". They turned a tiger into a housecat, at least during the years it still worked because evidently, the brainwashing is slowly getting washed out of his brain, which - I think - is a huge reason for him being so dysregulated. He has no healthy framework to deal with his emotions by himself without the crutch of indoctrination providing him with stability. Essentially, he has the emotional maturity of a toddler.

Stan Edgar sells the Homelander pitch to Noir by saying "they're convinced he'll be stronger than Soldier Boy", and that is the only measurement of strength they need. Stan is happy that Homelander can fly because that is a flashy power they can show off to the shareholders, and that's it. He doesn't need to be super strong. In fact, it would be detrimental to themselves if he was. His strength as is was already an issue to them due to it making him hard to control. If anything, they were doing everything in their power to keep him from realising his potential - both physically and mentally. Otherwise, one single tantrum could mean the end of the United States, and I am not going to comment on how that is likely where we're headed.

Another point I want to make is the emotional angle.

Homelander himself says that powers grow stronger with emotion. He wants to get Ryan angry enough to activate his lasers and tells him it's easier to fire them off if he thinks of his target with hate.

If anything, it was the indoctrination that made Homelander complacent that also prevented him from lashing out in a way that unlocked his powers' entire strength. Ryan doesn't have that. Ryan's emotions aren't being regulated by an artificial framework. He reacts naturally to danger, so when he sees his mother at risk of dying, his subconscious takes over and fires off everything he has. He can't repeat that willingly, I presume. He was definitely not at full strength at that age, seeing as he got knocked around fairly easily and started bleeding from quite literally anything, even just getting knocked against a bookcase which any other supe would tank easily.

We see Homelander do something similar once, when he frees himself at Herogasm, which was pure adrenaline. He actually can't repeat that feat when Maeve, Soldier Boy, and Butcher hold him in place in the Tower and is pretty helpless to fight back against the three of them, and it's interesting that this happens after Soldier Boy essentially broke his heart and spoke to the deep insecurity in him that was created by the brainwashing: you are a disappointment. According to Barbara, that's the magic phrase. And it turned Homelander weaker as if on cue. Amazing, actually.

Another thing is that in weird-supe-science terms, Ryan is technically a different step of evolution, so I guess we're just meant to believe he's stronger because of that, and that Homelander could never reach that level of strength simply due to physical limitations. It's what I usually go with when I write fic. But it's not nearly as fun as trying to deep-dive into conspiracy land.

it's gotta be really bittersweet for homelander to watch ryan develop the same powerset as him without the need for torture and isolation 😔 yes my son will never suffer for his power.... so why did I have to?

[bisexualhomelander]

Going through my screenshots for meta-writing purposes and I found this, and now you all have to look at it, too.

Behold him.

No, you haven't beheld him enough, look back up. Behold him.

Literal angel child. Raison d'être. He's never looked happier in any scene than he does right here stealing thirty pounds of ice cream with his friend. Nor will he ever look happier.

Baby boy, the horrors persist, but so do you. Even if it's only because you're unkillable. Oh God. My heart hurts.

*frantically googles if fictional child can elicit real-life maternal instinct*

[bisexualhomelander]

I made a whole entire Arcane Silco sideblog just so I won't annoy the good people of The Boys with my current in-between-hiatus-waiting hyperfixation. You can find me here. (I felt really funny for that title, the Germans will understand.)

Do expect fic of this fandom, though. I've spent the last two days going absolutely insane with fics.

This may, in fact, break my The Boys writer's block. Hopefully.

[bisexualhomelander]

That this would be posted on THE DAY we laughed about that exact thing. Oh, Eric. Oh Eric, I am so sorry that the middle-aged man yaoi keeps happening to you. You do it to yourself.

But after the Christmas trailer and "worse than lovers", I can't even call Butchlander a lurking threat anymore. That's a fucking megalodon barrelling right towards Eric, and Eric's a little boy eating ice cream at the aquarium exhibition looking at the colourful fishes of brotherly camraderie.

They already tried to contain it once by giving them only one scene in S4, only for that very scene to include both Billy actively thinking about Homelander masturbating and Homelander saying: I'll miss us.

Alright which one of you posted this on Reddit 😂

[bisexualhomelander]

SERIOUSLY.

They tell us it's the power that corrupts supes, not the Compound V. And then gave us Zoe Neuman who is a regular twelve-year-old who just loves blood and eating body parts all of a sudden now, which is very normal behaviour for people on Compound V apparently.

I am still a little sad that we will presumably never get a supe rights storyline worth its money because we're in the political arc now.

It's no coincidence to me that the most fervent fighters in Homelander's army are also those most victimised by Vought and humanity personally: Sam, Cate, the people from Sage Grove, Sage, formerly Vic in a way.

The "good supes" are the ones who accept the abuse from humans graciously and consistently say it is their responsibility to help them. And now don't get me wrong here, of course I am not excusing the shitty things many of the supes do or try and excuse the political takeover, or the presumable oppression and possible human genocide that is going to come in Gen V S2 and The Boys S5.

But I do take issue with the black-and-white thinking of "supes are stronger than humans, therefore they are the oppressor class" because humans made them, willingly gave them that power as literal newborns that could not consent to this treatment, and then refused to give them human rights and paraded them around like they're not real people with complex feelings and needs.

TL;DR: "Might the objectification, legalised torture, lack of public representation, lifelong corporate drug dependency, and inability to hold public office have radicalised parts of the population? No, they're just born power-hungry and unhinged."

[bisexualhomelander]

#Vought shaped him into the monster he became#he doesn’t know any other way to behave#he wasn’t born evil#homelander#john gillman#he isn’t a villain he’s a tragedy (tags @hoodlander)

YOU ARE SO RIGHT.

And I want to add something about it, too. Vought made him a monster because they wanted a weapon.

And then threw him into an environment that didn't require a weapon. They used him to advertise action toys. I feel reminded of the OG Noir in the comics who went insane because his only purpose was killing Homelander, but then he was never permitted to kill Homelander.

They made a child in B6 that they were so scared of and intentionally made him as dangerous as possible because he's good leverage against the opposition, and then - when they completely broke his mind - gave him actor training and just stuck him in a funny suit and decided that his monstrous traits that make him dangerous are unwanted now and HIS OWN FAULT. And that he should behave more appropriately, really.

In a sense, the Boys and Mallory are doing the same with Ryan. There's a boy with the powers of a monster who is so so scared of what he can do and knows he will never fit in and would probably gladly become a human if offered the choice. But they never let him become a human because they, quote-unquote, "need him" to be THEIR monster in particular. But they also don't train him to make him understand his powers better because they hate him using his powers and think it makes him scary and monstrous. But he should absolutely use his powers for them if THEY want him to.

And I hate it? Free my laser boys. All of them.

I know we joke about "eat Timothy" for the meme potential, and we get horny about the oysters, and we talk about the creepiness factor of "I showed people the real me, and they loved me for it" and all the loss of impulse control that follows.

But.

The true thing that always gets me about that particular seafood dinner scene is his little "Free at last" and the tearful look around the room and the way his voice breaks.

He broke through the barriers around him, and it won't end well, and I think deep down he knows that, too, but for one moment in time, he was in control of his own fate.

He feels loved.

And acknowledged. And empowered. And honestly, I love that for him? I wish he made smarter choices, but. I love that for him.

[bisexualhomelander]

Have some Billy poasts.

[bisexualhomelander]

Just in case people don't know what the fuck I am talking about:

First look at The Boys Season 5 promo, spotted at the FYC event yesterday in LA.

[📷: Skygirl313 on IG ]

[bisexualhomelander]

Homelander is female-coded by the writing, and I am not sure if it's on purpose or not, but he gets typical "female" b-plots.

Disclaimer: I am well aware most of these "female" b-plots are highly sexist and outdated, but this is Eric's show, and we have all seen Supernatural.

His journey into being a parent. Now, there is a trend that's been going on for many years now of "grizzled man takes in orphan kid and becomes a better guy through becoming that kid's foster father", but that is Butcher's storyline here, not Homelander's. No, Homelander gets the storyline of the parent who wishes for motherhood parenthood and openly bemoans his fertility problems, and then when he actually has offspring, becomes a very affectionate parent who defines himself through his role.

His storyline of being an aging superstar. The main comparison the show draws is SATC, which has a female main cast, to showcase that Homelander has work done on his face in the editing room. The Substance, anyone? I definitely believed part of his Season 4 storyline would be abusing V to keep himself pretty. Add Ryan to the mix, and you have: Queen you shall be, until there comes another, younger and more beautiful- It's never about kings.

The commodification. He gets dehumanised, turned into a pretty thing to be seen, not heard. Admired, not taken seriously.

So yes. Homelander is one of the girls. Strangely. I like it, though. It's a good subversion to give these stereotypical plots to a man.

Girls get it done 👯‍♀️🧍‍♂️🇺🇸💪

[bisexualhomelander]

There is a lot of very interesting things in this interview that I would like to take a closer look at, so let me quote:

I mean, yes, we set out to be this funhouse mirror reflection of what we’re seeing in the world. Another metaphor is we like to be like the kid in the back of the classroom throwing spitballs at authoritarian — authority — figures because that’s healthy. The way some of these things line up, like us opening with a trial as certain former presidents were on trial and the way other world events seem to line up to the show are totally coincidental and frankly a little freaky.

I know he means this time-wise more than content-wise because the Trump trial happened right around the same week the show dropped, but there is something funny about him trying to play it off as coincidental. He has been name-dropping Trump and Homelander for so long now, and I have to admit that I do feel for him a little because he was, ironically, so on the money that by now, he has to fear his show getting censored to hell. And I know he is just trying to save it from that fate by saying: it was all a coinkydink, guysss, we're totally not criticising the gov. But Eric. Eric. Your marketing team YESTERDAY made a joke about Homelander being elected pope. Come on. You want me to believe "make America super again" was just you coincidentally choosing a cool motto for Homelander? Do what you must to save your show, man, I get it. But Jesus Christ.

And all I can say about it is it’s a show that’s about authoritarians who present as celebrities, and it’s a show about late-stage capitalism.

Eric, your show is on Amazon Prime.

But I’m really proud that our weird superhero show is also maybe the most current show on television.

As much as I complain about the Trump-Homelander thing, I am at a point where I feel Homelander might be doing a better job. At least he has Sage.

But our goal is we use that stuff [as] our flash and sizzle to get through a lot of our discussions and conversations about politics and society.

I find it a little disappointing that he seems to be under the impression that the people wouldn't want the more plot-heavy discussions and feels the need to include shock value. Eric, I think most people watch this show for the good plotlines. Season 1 was rife with plot and very little shock value, and it worked better.

That particular story, where Homelander goes down to the lab, that’s a really heartbreaking story. And a lot of that comes down to Ant[ony Starr], who really wanted to play it like a little boy. He had this really smart, insightful observation that when you go home, you revert to whoever you were when you were at that home, and he was a scared little boy then. Now he has all this power, but he’s still that little kid, and so, it made him, weirdly — to the extent to which Homelander can be — sympathetic [or] at least empathetic. You could at least understand how that torture led him to become the person that he is today. I think Ant pulls off an incredible magic trick to make maybe the most evil and sociopathic person on television understandable to the audience. And that is no small thing.

Eric, I don't think Homelander is the most sociopathic character on television. I don't even think he's in the Top 10 on your own show. You just described him, in this very sentence, as a scared boy. I don't fully believe a scared boy is the height of sociopathy. Either way, reading about Eric and Ant cooking scenes is always fun. They work so well.

(On another note, Eric is No. 1 creator of three-dimensional evil guys and then turns into the shocked Pikachu face when it actually works. He is such a guilty-pleasure-villain-lover. Eric, embrace it.)

And by design, we always love it when we can put Butcher and Homelander around the same emotional journeys and see how they react to them because they [have this] two sides of the same coin thing where they’re the epic hero and villain of the show. So anytime that we get an opportunity to mirror what they’re going through, we take it.

Thanks for the Butchlander mention, Eric, but... Did you just imply Butcher is the hero? Butcher? The man currently planning to genocide an entire species? That same Butcher? William J. Butcher?

Epic hero, even. Eric.

In many ways, it’s a show about humanity and how power, vengeance, and violence take it away.

Now take all that energy, Eric, and realise you're doing the same storyline with Homelander. And stop trying to say you're making him super evil.

Kripke talking a little about Soldier Boy ad Homelander's relationship in season 5

[bisexualhomelander]

[bisexualhomelander]

I can't believe Soldier Boy actually founded a family motto with his "I'm not going back in that fucking box" in 3x08.

Soldier Boy: was in Russia, in a box, for 40 years - hates the box.

Homelander: was underground, in a box, for 16 years - hates the box.

Ryan: was nearly in a box, killed his way out - hates the box.

They sure are not going back in that fucking box. Thank you for some wise words to put on the family crest, Benjamin.

[bisexualhomelander]

Christina's World (Andrew Wyeth, '48) vs. Billy in front of Tony Cicero's in The Boys 2x02 "Proper Preparation and Planning"

[bisexualhomelander]

June Gehringer, Earth Is An Anagram For Heart, You Fucking Idiots | The Boys 3x06 "Herogasm"