The Boys Presents: Diabolical is an eight episode animation that’s a spin-off from The Boys. It’s a short season, made even more so thanks to being only around fifteen minutes long for each episode. The twist here is that while it’s a series of shorts focusing on different events and characters, each episode has a different animation style.
The first episode starts out with an animation style of classic cartoons and looked like it might be kid-friendly. It does that on purpose though because just when you get comfortable, it starts showing off all the blood, guts, swearing and other adult things. It’s stylized gore but feels too over the top so it is out of place at times. This carries on for the rest of the season.
The premise for each episode is interesting, and that’s the whole point of this spin-off. It touches on subjects that you would have wondered about. Things that are too boring for the show to cover, but still intriguing on how everyday normal things would function in this world. We see what happened to the baby with the laser eye ability that was a standout from the second season. We see a case where rebellious teenagers with their mood changes would react about their parents, but now with added superpowers. Or even just the normal lives of superheroes and what happens when they marry and have a family.
Having watched the second season of the show is a must as this spin-off would others contains many spoilers. This spin-off was designed to help ease the wait between the second and third seasons anyway. The short length of each episode is good as it gets to the point with limited filler material. It’s sillier than its source material and sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t. There are scenes which are ridiculous and too over-the-top, and while each episode’s premise is solid, the execution doesn’t always reach. The middle of the season feels weaker than the rest.
The tone is too lighthearted too. It likes to make fun of itself or be self-aware but not quite pulling it off at times. Despite that, it still paints a bleak look of its world. Vought is too powerful, and by extensions, its superheroes, manages to get away with a lot of stuff. The numerous deaths and subsequent cover ups are commonplace with no true justice in this world. It can be downright depressing.
The good news is how it mostly feels like a natural extension of The Boys. Events here feel like they could work, and the appearances of many familiar characters from the show further help to cement that. Their appearances are more than just a passing cameo. They’re more involved in that episode’s events that you would expect. The differing animation styles in each episode isn’t too distracting either.
One common theme between all the episodes is that Compound V is an unpredictable substance. There are so many accidents that it’s a wonder that Vought wasn’t exposed earlier, especially with the number of people involved, the breaches and the many mistakes. That being said, it also feels like that anything weird or unusual uses Compound V as an easy way out. It’s touted as this miracle substance but also a curse, but when you can blame anything on it at a legitimate excuse, it can become lazy.
The season leaves the best to last though, as the last episode presents a good finale. It ties more directly into the main show as we see the early beginnings of Homelander and how he changed into the person that we know him as now. Again, due to its short length, it couldn’t go too in-depth but it was still interesting to see his humble beginnings, his relationships and how dark things quickly became.
Overall, The Boys Presents: Diabolical has uneven quality but if you’re a fan of the show, then this is a nice small bit of content to scratch that itch. Some of the episodes are weird or unfunny, while others are fun and enjoyable. The common theme of the excessive and highly stylized blood and gore does detract from time to time. The writing in certain episodes doesn’t feel like it gels well with the world but on the whole, it’s a neat mini-series for fans of The Boys.
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