#ennies thoughts

[n1kkisixx]

i want mark hoffman to pound me into a mattress until i’m squirming atp

#ennies thoughts #i literally need him so bad #i rewatched saw 3 #cos i made my mum watch it #and when i tell u #i fucking screamed #when mark came on screen #FUCKING PUT HIM IN SAW 11 #I MISS HIM #saw #mark hoffman #mark hoffman smut #mark hoffman x reader

[assiraphales]

the amount of angst that zoro put into dramatically climbing the stairs to watch ennies lobby burn to the ground while gloomily staring at the spot he thought luffy was in and wondering how he was doing was actually next level

#the thoughts are coming out #zolu #ennies lobby

[chirpsythismorning]

Just watched Brokeback Mountain for the first time and I need to talk about it.

Throughout the movie, we see Ennis experience a lot of intense discomfort and fear at the idea of being intimate with a man, despite it becoming abundantly clear in the details and based on his actions that that is indeed what he wants. He even admits to Jack that this fear stems from an experience he had at a young age, when his father showed him two men who were presumed to be lovers (they were roommates vibes), murdered and castrated, with him basically using it as a lesson to show Ennis that being gay was wrong and would get you killed.

Jack on the other hand was a little less discomforted or fearful at the idea of being with a man, in that we actually saw him return the following summer to Brokeback Mountain hoping Ennis would be there, only for him to show up alone. We saw how after this he confidently approached a man at the bar hoping to get to know him, only to get rejected and risk getting hate crimed (foreshadowing 😭). And we saw how, over time, Jack’s struggle had more to do with being hurt over Ennis’ unwillingness to commit or even just consider the possibility of them being together long term, even despite the risk of being gay in the 60’s.

Near the end of the film, upon Jack’s death, Ennis discovers from his father that over the past 20 years since they met at Brokeback Mountain, Jack constantly brought it up to his folks, how Ennis, his friend, was going to move up to their ranch and they were going to build a cabin and live together and take over for the family.

Jack was often the one in the moment taking the chances for them to be together. He was the one who mentioned that they could go to Mexico, with Ennis furiously rejecting it saying ‘you know what happens to people like you there??’

But what’s even more painful, is that in this same scene, Ennis’ acknowledges the truth more directly, and why it’s so painful is because it ends up ironically coming true:

Here, Ennis is basically saying that if he decides to be with Jack for real, aka faces his queerness head on, that’s going to be the thing that gets them (Jack) killed. Shortly after this, Jack loses it and has that infamous ass monologue, followed by Ennis breaking down over how it’s Jack’s fault that he’s this way in the first place.

In the end, when Jack dies, Ennis finds out about what happened from Jack’s wife, Lureen Newsome, who said Jack was pumping up a flat out on a backroad when his tire blew up, with the rim of the tire slamming his face, breaking his nose and jaw, and knocking him unconscious on his back. By the time someone drove by on the deserted backroad, he had drowned in his own blood.

The audience might’ve believed this story, if it wasn’t for how rehearsed it sounded coming out of Lureen’s mouth, but it also doesn’t help that images of Jack being hate crimed as his true cause of death are flashing across Ennis’s mind in real time while Lureen is telling him about the ‘accident’.

While it’s left up to interpretation, it’s implied from what his wife and father said, that Jack was hate-crimed by his father in law, with it being covered up.

Broken nose? Broken jaw?… Those are the kinds of wounds someone endures after being beaten up. And if it’s happening to the point of death, then he was essentially beaten to death.

This then fits into what Jack’s father said, because apparently, shortly before he died, he’d told his father he’d found a different friend that was going to come up there to the ranch with him. And so it’s very likely Lureen’s father caught wind of this as his plans to leave neared, leading to his murder (Jack also bitched his father in law tf out in an epic way, which on its own felt unnecessary in the moment, but within the context of this makes a whole lot more sense).

Either way, it seems Jack waited for Ennis to change his mind. 20 years he waited, and when Ennis didn’t, Jack finally moved on with someone else who made an offer of his own years before, only to get murdered just as Ennis feared he would if he decided to live his life authentically.

Ennis initially found out like this, in a postcard that bounced of him inquiring Jack about seeing each other again after that last massive fall out where they had, only for Ennis’s worst fear to be realized:

Nov 7th with deceased stamped across it has me spiraling 😭

Now, obviously Brokeback Mountain is one of the most well known queer films of all time, like there’s no denying that. So it’s fairly easy to assume ST could be taking some inspiration from this film just like they have with hundreds upon hundreds of other films. But especially if they are planning to go the queer route, homage to this film is pretty much guaranteed (there’s also one more reason it might be guaranteed, but I’m saving that for the end 🤣).

Regardless, as you can probably already tell, it’s very easy to see similarities between Ennis with Mike and Jack with Will.

Mike getting the ‘you see Michael? You see what happens?’ treatment from his father, in the first episode in the series, is very Ennis coded in that this is a TV show that follows that up with seasons of Mike pushing Will away from him, with it leading to a boiling point where he says, ‘What did you think? Really? That we were never gonna get girlfriends? That we were just gonna sit in my basement in play games for the rest of our lives?’ with Will responding, ‘Yeah. I guess I did. I really did,’ aka extremely Jack coded.

The really epic thing about this though, is that ST is clearly going on a different journey than Brokeback Mountain did, in that it’s simply subverting the bury your gays trope. While they are acknowledging the risk of being queer in the 80’s, they’re not letting it end ‘realistically’ like many people have insisted it must because that is the only option. And this will be a satisfying ending because it’s coming as a response to all those heartbreaking stories before it that have reinforced this idea that happy endings just aren’t an option for gay people who simply want to be together.

While Ennis and Jack didnt get their happy ending like they wanted, Mike and Will on the other hand 😏

And last but not least, on a more hilariously ironic note, the guy who Jack was going to settle for in the end instead of Ennis, was a guy named Randall Malone, played by none other than David fucking Harbour.

#byler #stranger things #brokeback mountain #am I late to the party #yes yes I am #but I was puny when this movie came out so I am just catching up 😭 #anyways #I balled my eyes out at the end when Ennis’a worst fear came true #it sucked #although it followed the bury your gays trope #I will say it was still good in that it presented the risk from the very beginning #so the foreshadowing was there at least 😔 #anyways will is so jack coded 😭 #the way he excitedly drove to meet up with ennis after he found out about his divorce bc he thought it meant they could be together now #only for ennis to be like nothing changes if anything we have to see each other even less 😭 #and jack just drives home balling 😭

[deliciouskeys]

What does it mean that Homelander is the only supe that has Compound V incorporated into his DNA? And that he can pass it down to progeny?

A short essay no one asked for (but inspired by @saintmathieublanc ‘s poll about whether HL and Ryan can be depowered)

Reading 1: literal

His DNA consists of Compound V. Which means that Compound V is a nucleotide analogue, a proteinaceous component of histones around which DNA wraps and gets packed into a chromosome, or some kind of non-organic chemical that binds to DNA (DNA intercalators). I actually kind of like the idea that Compound V is a part of histones, because you could handwavely imagine it gets incorporated haphazardly and affects the expression of random genes, turning them on or off, hence its varied effects.

Reason 1 none of these seem likely: DNA replicates constantly, not only during embryonic development but throughout your life. Having DNA be modified but not requiring a constant influx of new Compound V means that the DNA would eventually dilute out to become normal.

Reason 2 these aren’t likely: a proteinaceous histone component injected into infants wouldn’t really exert any effects. Wouldn’t even go into cells. A nucleotide analog or a DNA intercalator chemical could go into cells and effectively act as a DNA damaging agent (this is how some chemo works, in fact). Hard to imagine how randomly damaging DNA would result in gaining of abilities, but I guess formally possible if the damage is somehow directed. The randomness of powers gained could potentially be compatible with “random damage”. But what would then be the difference between Homelander and other supes? The Compound V would then be “part of the DNA” in both cases

Reading 2: which I favor

Compound V is a hormone. Hormones are something one could inject into a baby to exert profound effects, even if only done once. What’s not clear of course is why the hormone exerts such different effects in different babies. One handwavy model is that, unlike testosterone or estrogen or melatonin or adrenaline, with defined programs being triggered, Compound V is a hormone that creates artificial stresses in the body that tissue will respond to adaptively, and that this process is stochastic/random. This would be consistent with Compound V being better as something taken as a child- more tissue plasticity.

What does it mean that Homelander’s DNA “contains Compound V” in this schema? Hormones aren’t part of DNA. But they could have engineered a gene that encodes an enzyme (or a set of genes encoding a set of enzymes) that generate Compound V out of a common steroid precursor like cholesterol. They may also have encoded whatever receptor in the human body binds Compound V to be expressed more highly or in specific tissue in the body, but this is less crucial. This would even be somewhat realistic for 1981 era biotech. In this scenario, Homelander has been exposed to Compound V throughout embryonic development (earlier than everyone else), and has the ability to make more all the time. This would be consistent with it being heritable: Ryan didn’t need any exogenous Compound V, he had the genes to generate it himself.

If Soldier Boy’s radiation undoes the effects of Compound V out of people who have had one exposure, this would mean his radiation would be less effective on Homelander and Ryan: they would eventually generate more Compound V and with time presumably regain their powers. And that’s my final answer to @saintmathieublanc ‘s poll 🧐

#compound V logistics #no one: #literally no one: #me: writes essay about stuff neither the Boys writers nor Garth Ennis devoted any thought to #homelander #homelander meta #biology #the boys #the boys tv #mystuff

[artbyblastweave]

I prompt you to elaborate on the idea of deliberately making something in a story boring, for I an always interested in your analysis.

In The Boys (Comic version, which I have complicated but more-positive-than-most feelings about) Garth Ennis very deliberately wrote most of the superhuman combat scenes as short, brutal affairs in which whoever was more powerful or better-equipped would just slaughter the other side in a matter of seconds; if the sides were more evenly matched it was then a matter of who swung first. To my memory, there were only a handful of fights blocked like fights instead of like curbstomps. This was in service to Ennis's artistic vision; violence as a swift, brutal thing, only glamourous in the sense of black-comedy dismemberments or the grim satisfaction of being alive when the other guy isn't, and with the majority of all conflicts playing out through via prep-work and intelligence-gathering done in advance of the first punch being thrown.

It was an aggressive refutation of how superhero fights go in more straightforward superhero fiction, with clever tricks, drawn-out dramatic brawls, violence as a palatable form of spectacle, something marketable after-the-fact. A lot of the fights the titular team got involved in consisted basically of jumping distracted supes; one of Homelander's jobs was to just unceremoniously decapitate any earnest upstart supervillain and then have the marketing team at Vought write a comic portraying the fight as something with genre-typical stakes. To this day, I feel like there was a level of honesty about violence in this portrayal. In real life, it's not fun!

But! It did introduce some problems. Namely, a series in which almost every single fight is something Nasty, Brutish and Short created, for me, a form of doublethink about how seriously we should even take the Vought capes as threats. A series in which every fight is deliberately uninteresting (if you aren't entertained by curbstomps) is a series in which every fight is deliberately uninteresting, and from there your enjoyment of the series rides or dies on how interesting you find the non-fight political intrigue, character dynamics, and so forth. The version of Garth Ennis who isn't writing capes is, in my opinion, pretty damn good at that other stuff, so I inched through.

The show patched the majority of my difficulties. It retained the broad thesis that cape fights would largely be curbstomps, and the other broad thesis that capes would largely be useless or counterproductive at their supposed role, but combined this with a number of actual fight scenes. It made Butchers team significantly less powerful, with a significantly greater focus on the sneaky bastardry necessary to flip assets and find weaknesses. It made killing any given supe much, much more of an endeavor, something genuinely very difficult and impressive, and it made every given supe death much more of a plot point or a character beat than it would have been in the comic. The supes being less interesting than typical for their genre, that was preserved- but the situations involving supes that we, the audience, are privy to? All very interesting still!

Now on the other side of the spectrum, you've got Worm, and you've got Jack Slash-as-an-examination-of-Joker. "Your philosophy is ill-considered and fake deep, and you aren't funny" is actually a fairly common clapback against The Joker within officially published DC comics properties, but it butts up against the fact that he's taken pretty seriously as a threat regardless of that fact! Jack Slash is an attempt to reconcile that, to figure out how someone as LOlrandom as Joker could last longer than three minutes as a serious contender, and the answer is "subtle secondary powers that puff up his win rate, in a way that his self-absorption prevents him from recognizing as anything but his own innate talent." He's blatantly shallow. Everyone talking to him is palpably rolling their eyes within the text, but he's got the brute-force necessary to undercut anyone trying to one-up him (Theo's interlude, Tattletale in the parking garage.) It's called out multiple times that's it's mysterious that he's doing so well when he's so mediocre. The candidate he picks for the 9 is a dud. He can't come up with anything more interesting for Cherish than having her do all the other tests over a second time. His big comeback is just Slaughterhouse 9! But More of them! Fuck Yeah!

But! Despite the text being aware of how shallow he is and how thin his ideas are, all of his ideas keep working. It doesn't matter that it's edgelord bullshit- it's edgelord bullshit that everyone else is forced to take seriously and respond to, which is where the actually-great character work in the S9 arc happens. And at this point I think there are basically two camps within the audience. Camp one consists of people who, despite Jacks clear shallowness, nonetheless are entertained and engrossed by the batshit combat scenarios he masterminds, even if he shouldn't be able to mastermind them. I am a counselor at Camp One. Camp Two consists of people who call bullshit on the ability for such a shallow guy to mastermind all that crap and bend everyone to his will, who don't really find anything redemptive in the eventual reveal that it was powers-enabled because they still had to sit through the implausible bullshit. This is a position I have no choice but to respect because it's the position of my cousin, who I adore and want to remain on good terms with at family gatherings. The things we do in service of family, amiright

#parahumans #worm #wildbow #the boys #garth ennis #asks #ask #meta #thoughts #the boys amazon prime #worm web serial #worm web novel #jack slash #media analysis #the boys comic #worm analysis #worm spoilers #the boys spoilers

[casualbugenjoyer]

I'm rewatching water 7 and ennies lobby and oh my God. Both Franky and Robin are super fucked up in water 7, but the each have a moment in ennies lobby where everything makes sense and they start behaving like somewhat normal adults. This happens after they've met each other and realized they were in the same boat and are somehow almost the same level of fucked up. Not to mention, it's the first time Robin openes up to anyone- let alone someone who is similar and has similar circumstances.

Anyway all I can think about is Frobin. They are everything to me. And they make so much sense. They both have autistism lmao .

Things that are not often looked at in future arcs that are really highlighted here include: Franky's anger management issues, Robins propensity to skip people's feelings for "a more logical solution", and of course both of their traumas influencing their decisions (based off of how people in their past got treated). Later both are more used for action and jokes. Franky being super 'super' and Robin being morbid. Give me more content with them that isn't flat!!!!!!

This arc is truly amazing, and honestly nothing in post time skip had gotten to this point yet. I hope it does, because it's really beautiful the way Oda highlights how trauma never leaves you. How unless you get help, or can get help, things won't change.

Idk this was a message that really struck with me. I really loved the idea that no matter who you are and what you've done, if you want to overcome adversity your have to trust other people. And I know that's a common theme in every arc, but it's one of the best in this one imo.

#one piece #one piece thoughts #one piece rewatch #ennies lobby #water 7 #one piece franky #one piece robin #nico robin #frobin #franky x robin #cutty flam #i feel weird tagging that tho as it's literally how dead name #but i want this to reach everyone after i saw someone talk about on water 7 #like you just don't understand #since almost everyone is a teenager or really young adult it's nice to see older adults deal with the same issues #also it's about time people put respect behind frankys #he is a joke however he's also a complex character who doesn't get enough screen time or delving into #i love him so much okay #one piece anime #one piece analysis #mine

[lilcatdraws]

In memory of Heath Ledger <3

#I’ve been working on this since april #i thought about posting this around his birthday but I finished early #heath ledger #ten things i hate about you #the patriot #a knight’s tale #lords of dogtown #casanova 2005 #brokeback mountain #candy 2006 #the dark knight #the imaginarium of doctor parnassus #patrick verona #ennis del mar #ledger joker #my art

[denspollen]

god in reference to my post about rewatching scenes where a hot actor sniffles/rubs their nose over and over and over… Yeah

#i/asip #i really dont know if he was sick filming this #or it was an intentional character choice bc d/ennis has allergies #or it was just glenn and they kept it in because it fit the character #god… Thoughts #snzblr #snz

[whywontgodletthisblogdie]

ennis breaking down when they’re leaving after that first summer and jack crying as he drives off after seeing ennis after his divorce…

jack has so much hope, enough to return to augirre the next summer to ask after ennis, enough to leave his family at the drop of a hat beachside he thought ennis’s divorce meant he was finally ready to have a life with him

but jack didn’t see ennis break down after their first summer together. he didn’t know that ennis had already decided they couldn’t be together, not like they wanted to. that he’d resigned himself to probably never seeing jack again, and forced himself to be ok with it

jack held out hope for years and years that one day they could be something more, maybe. that he could convince ennis to go off with him and that they could have that sweet life together and be safe, together. but that was never an option for ennis

#help im supposed to be working but the brain worms are too strong. #just cannot handle the idea of them giving up on forever with each other at such different points in their relationship #ennis gives up almost instantly out of fear and practicality #but it takes jack years to let go of what hope he had #he thought alma was the buggest hurdle in the way of them being together #but once ennis isn’t with her anymore he sees that it was never her #not really #it was always enniss fear #AAAHASHHAGSGSHDJCNXKFOPDKWJkOanOnkakkoj&h?u(eGhHkanajjsjKAKSJSJDHHDHS #brokeback mountain #ennis del mar #jack twist

[anonymousromanticpoet]

A Brokeback Mountain Playlist

Trying Not To Love You by Nickelback

Can’t Help Falling In Love cover by Corey Hart

Clock Don’t Stop by Carrie Underwood

Like I”ll Never Love You Again by Carrie Underwood

Someday Never Comes by Creedence Clearwater Revival

Shattered by Trading Yesterday

#sadsongs #ennis del mar #heath ledger #jake gyllenhaal #jack x ennis #jack twist #brokeback mountain #concept playlist #lgbtqia #mlm yearning #gay mlm #gay thoughts #Youtube

[nopeferatu]

Since the play implies that Ennis is still alive in 2013, do you think he ever went into town just to get something and end up seeing a pride march happening? I feel like he'd be trying to hide his jealously at seeing people being so open as disgust, and secretly be wishing him and Jack could have been open like that. And he would probably have seen a couple that reminded him of himself and Jack, just to twist the knife in further. (Also I think he would secretly pick something pride related up, like a tiny flag, something easy to hide and put it on Jack's shirt)

So I got this ask when I was on the plane ride back to the US and my interest was piqued, so I bought the 4hr British Airways internet package just to do some research; turns out that, from what I could find, the pride festivals in the bigger cities of Wyoming are all pretty recent? As in, I think the earliest one I could find started in Casper in 2015, which kind of goes to show you even further the kind of state that Ennis and Jack would have grown up in for the pride festivals in the BIG cities to have started so recently.

Even if he wouldn't have had the chance to see a pride march in 2013, the thought of Ennis existing in the modern day and age is really interesting to me. I think things have gotten to where even in a state as unpopulated as Wyoming queer people are becoming more and more visible, and so if he had to absolutely run to one of the bigger cities for some reason or another, the chances of him coming across a queer couple just living life like normal would be great and growing by the day.

Imagine Ennis wandering around, trying to find such and such shop for such and such thing that Junior needed for her family, when he sees a couple of young guys in their boots and wranglers. They're not doing anything unbecoming, just standing a little bit close, laughing and jostling each other, but not in any way that would set alarm bells off for him—until they lock their hands together and leave to wherever they're going. Maybe share a quick peck on the cheek before they go, dealing the final gut-punch of the day for him.

I'm honestly not sure how comfortable he'd be with the thought of same-gender attracted people like him and Jack being so open, but I do often think about how Ennis would react to seeing an openly gay couple for the first time in his life, maybe in his mid-to-late 40s. I think he wouldn't know what to do with himself. I feel like he'd stare, and he wouldn't be able to catch his staring in time, so he'd try poorly to play it off and keep on walking to wherever he had to be. I think he'd get angry about it, too. At them for flaunting their thing around like it's fine and dandy to do so, at himself for denying Jack for so long, and at the world for changing too late for them to have ever had a chance. Ennis is a very complicated man and so unfortunately I think his disgust at the sight would be real (there's a fic where he and Jack come across hippie boys who he talks shit about bc he doesn't like that they don't have the decency to keep themselves hidden, which is a very Ennis-thing to think, imo) but what is also so very real is his jealousy. He just wishes he could have had that kind of a life with Jack.

Anyways anon, your ask reminds me of another all-time favorite fic of mine, Might Seem Like an Ordinary Night by theswearingkind on ao3. It's a lovely little fic about Ennis reacting to New York legalizing gay marriage in 2013. Give it a read—it's very short but packs such an emotional punch.

#asks #brokeback mountain #ennis del mar #jack twist #still brokeback posting #bc im like a big canon purist i dont know that ennis would ever feel comfy with pride merch either BUT the thought is so cute and sad :c #in some world out there i hope ennis would come to feel comfortable in who he is someday #also i just got back to the us but im not exactly back at my home yet so im making a slow way through all these replies i have to get thru

[n1kkisixx]

the feminine urge to write one shots on tumblr but i have an irl who follows me so….

#gnr #guns n roses #gunsnroses #slash #axl rose #80s #axl rose x reader #slash x reader #i’ll cry #ennies thoughts

[peculiaritybending]

I’m just a charmac girl in a macdennis world 💔

#ppl on twitter REALLY hate charmac like god I was so shocked it’s just so strange??? I didn’t know ppl felt so strongly about this shit #I thought we were all of the same mindset that we’re here for the comedy and social commentary and the ships are a very fun added bonus I #didn’t know ppl were saying that I’d you don’t ship macd//ennis you’re stupid like holy shit??? it’s not that deep. genuinely baffled like #why do you care?? also ppl saying that charlie & mac are like brothers is very funny to me that has never once crossed my mind idk that #was surprising too #anyway idrc like I said it’s not that deep and I’m not like pissed about it or calling anyone out or anything just BAFFLED like I didn’t #I just didn’t expect it anyway ignore my rambling enjoy my one sentence post #iasp #charmac

[gildedchoir]

"ain't nobody's business but ours."

yea so i watched brokeback mountain.

im in shambles

i would've said they needed time, but they didn't have any. they weren't given any. i know, Ennis this Ennis that, he made his choice and he stuck to it but i can't blame him for it.

mmore on my thoughts below teehee

i wrote this last night but it still rings true

brokeback mountain really makes you think

spoiler alert if you haven't watched it btw duhh

yeah, Ennis and Jack never ended up together - Ennis chose to resign, and force himself to be okay with never having Jack, and Jack never stopped holding out for hope that Ennis would give in to him.

but *why* were they that way?

yeah, it's a tragedy, but when you look into it - when you look at the people around you, and the people you see today, it hits you. this isn't just some movie fantasy, this happens. this must've happened all the time.

Ennis was scared shitless because he knew how queer people were treated. Jack didn't give much of a damn, he wanted to be happy - he wanted Ennis to be happy with him, but the world around them never gave offered them that chance.

i love brokeback mountain because it makes you feel how unfair it really is. that this kinda stuff isn't fiction, it's reality, and homophobia may be way more mitigated now but it's still there. sure, homophobia may not come in the form of people tying lassos around your genitals and pulling them off anymore, but there are laws - social divides, military conflicts, stigmatization.

brokeback mountain is so much more than just a love story, or a super sexual taboo man on man action movie. i think it shows you just how fucked the world was, and still is, in a way that makes you really feel or at least see what queer people have had to go through for so long.

#brokeback mountain #ennis del mar #jack twist #brokeback mountain fanart #midnight thoughts #sobbing #these two make me sick #they make me sick

[sharonisthebettercarter]

y'all...

if you haven't yet (and have read the boys comics first of course), def read "dear becky".

it's perfect. it's just fuckin' perfect. that's all i can say... OOH~! i wanna say moar! it hurts so goddamn much but it's a good bittersweet hurt.

also lovely to get full confirmation that kripke is a superfan of the source material and ennis' work~<3

very reassuring and show's he's an open minded person willing to listen and learn with good media literacy, but also means he set out to adapt the story proper from the very beginning<3<3<3! and boi, it has shown from the very beginning but it just gets me all the more excited<3

butt~ if you have any wonder of what he's going for with butcher--motives, self view, goals, even spoilers--this might help clear it up... leik a LOT actually lol

comics butcher and show butcher are actually a lot more alike than people want to admit (def looks like kripke is going for making him as accurate as he can tho)

plus i'm always a sucker for moar big bobbi<3<3<3 she is literally the BEST<3!

#dear becky #the boys #billy butcher #addiction #becky butcher #hughie campbell #annie january #big bobbi #the boys comics #the boys tv #the boys amazon #the boys series #bob ross #lmao #there's a reference in there that's perfect #let's just say it's canon that kimiko painted some happy little trees<3<3<3 #garth ennis #bitch makin' me cry<3 #my only lament is that this one flat out states... pretty much everything i've said about billy and his m.o. lmao #def a very validating 'louder for the people in the back' moment tho #but disappointing in the sense that i hate that it needs to be said out loud for people to understand it?? #i thought ennis laid it out pretty clearly the first time but maybe that just my weird brain weirding lmao #more likely a failing of our education system... ugh

[artbyblastweave]

Also consider this a chaser for a longer post I’m gonna do on how The Boys got better in the adaptation, but one thing I think was a really smart change is how the show is handling the prospect of supes in the military.

 In the comic, The Supes are framed as Evil, but Incompetent. The fight over whether or not Vought is going to get Supes into the military was meant as a parallel to pork spending and the military Industrial complex run amok. Putting supes in the military was framed as bad, well, first because Vought is evil and shouldn’t get to make money, but on a practical level it’s treated as a silly idea.  The supes are framed as fundamentally incompetent soldiers. They’re too brash, too used to getting their way, incredibly difficult to create in consistent numbers, even harder to standardize once you’ve created them due to radically different levels of durability, and fundamentally pretty easy to kill in a combat scenario if you go in prepared and keep your shit together. Until Homelander starts getting Coupy, the actual stakes of the fight are largely over whether Vought is going to get to ream the American Taxpayers with the superhuman equivalent of jets that don’t work and see no action. But the superhumans themselves are, fundamentally, a complete joke in terms of combat ability, and their actual attempt at full-scale rebellion is suppressed almost immediately by the conventional military.

 And the issue is that this sort of created an “enemy-is-both-weak-and-strong” dynamic, where the story hates superheroes so goddamn much that they get  simultaneously framed as both this incredibly corrosive societal cancer AND a bunch of complete morons who can get wiped out in an afternoon by a small detatchment of well-trained, well-equipped soldiers. The actual stakes are.... kinda all over the place, as a result.

In the show,  The Supes are allowed to be both Evil AND competent. Homelander is actually smart instead of just mean and powerful, and It’s pretty clear that supes would be effective in the military, applied judiciously; Black Noir, Soldier Boy and even Homelander to an extent actually are capable of carrying out incredibly violent surgical strikes against whoever the hell they want. So instead, the threat is very clearly reframed as the military potentially having access to combat-viable superhumans who are capable of carrying out incredibly violent surgical strikes against whoever the hell they want. That gets to be a bad thing on its own merits instead of being bad because it’s a waste of money! And, furthermore, it’s also as if specific special-forces agents and black-ops murderers were given the same kind of inviolable, insufferable PR shielding that real world celebrities get for their bad behavior, except the “bad behavior” is, you know, the imperialist slaughter of hundreds or thousands! (In addition to, and not as a replacement for, regular celebrity bullshit!) 

#the boys #the boys amazon #thoughts #meta #homelander #garth ennis #the boys comic