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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!!!!!

Asclepius: God of Healing and Medicine

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

No Cabin Assigned Yet Roman Aspect: Aesculapius Link in bio for more Asclepius info 🩺

The Evermore Grimoire: Mermaids of the Seven Seas

The Atlantic Mermaids are a pod of mermaids who live in the stormy seas of the Atlantic Ocean and just like the Arctic Mermaids, have done so for centuries. They have beautiful tails that reflect the deep blue tones of the ocean they call home, and wear a variety of headpieces (such as tiara’s, crowns and diadems) made of shells found on the seabed. Harnessed with the power of Atmokinesis, the Atlantic Mermaids can conjure up a ferocious storm in an instant if anyone dares to underestimate them. Thus making the Atlantic Ocean a trecherous sea to venture in. They’re also incredibly loyal to their own kind, but only when it suits them. During the war between Mermaids and Mermen, the Atlantic Mermaids were the ‘saving grace’ thanks to their Queen who rallied together every member in the pod and created one the most brutal storms the Atlantic Ocean had ever seen. Despite the storm ‘turning the tide’ in the war, it also came at a great cost that changed the hierarchy within every mermaid pod forever. Including the relations within their own pod, resulting in some mermaids breaking away and forming a new pod elsewhere in the ocean. In spite of everything, these mermaids are  considered the most powerful because if another war ever arose their and loyalty would be instrumental in the survival of all Merfolk as well as their place within the magical world.

original artwork by Vlad Stankovic

ganymede and the erotes (eros, himeros)

more ganymede 🍎

RIKKI

hey guys! this was a while ago. I have a few more in my art vault lol

thinking about 2.12 and how we deserved some more of evil emma gilbert

anyways

Aphrodite devotional board 💐🐚✨️

apollo, achilles, and the death of troilus. REACH OUT, TOUCH FAITH.

OSIRIS-ANTINOUS. antinous enters the nile human, and leaves a statue 🪷