The Boys: Diabolical

This animated spin off from 'The Boys' features eight ten minute episodes, each of which tells a complete little story. The stories vary in style and tone but it is safe to say none are suitable for younger viewers thanks to the level of extremely gory violence and robust language. It is set in the same universe as 'The Boys' so it is likely to appeal most to people who have seen and enjoyed that... while many things can be enjoyed by new viewers it wastes no time re-introducing familiar characters.

Overall I really enjoyed this series, although it must be stated that some episodes were better than others. It started well with an episode featuring a scientist trying to save a baby that shoots lasers out of its eyes and ends on a real high with a story about Homelander's first mission. For me the weak point was the fifth episode; when 'South Park' had a talking poo twenty years ago it was childishly amusing but here it was just weak... at least it was only one episode and things improved again later. The animation is solid and the voice cast, which includes an impressive array of well-known actors does a fine job. As stated before it is pretty violent with lots of characters meeting a grisly end... if you've seen anime like 'Elfen Lied' you'll be familiar with such matter. This certainly won't be for everybody but if you enjoyed 'The Boys' then I'd certainly recommend this; if you don't enjoy it you won't be wasting too much time.

I think the people who found this show bad perhaps had the wrong expectations. This show isn't canon, it's just an excuse for various animation studios and directors to make their own spin based on the rules of The Boys universe.

My favourite episodes were episode 2, 4, 7 and 8. I enjoyed Justin Roiland's sense of humor, so I liked seeing what he did with the concept. The romance in episode 4 was cute, albeit a little underdeveloped (which is excusable given the short runtime), the animation of 7 was by far the best, and 8 was a mini flashback story for Homelander that makes his character a little more empathetic.

Most people have an issue with episode 5, the poop episode. The animation was cute, but I think Awkwafina was high when she wrote the episode. Even with the absurdity of the Boys universe, the premise of episode 5 was a bit too crazy. I wouldn't call it bad, but it is the weakest episode.

Episode 1 was just a Looney Tunes spoof which went a little too hard on the violence for its own good. Episode 3 was really fun, and uses the character designs of the original comic instead of the TV show. Episode 6 was good but barely felt like The Boys at all, closer in tone to Invincible.

Overall a mixed bag, but I lean more positive than other critics here. Worth watching if you need more Boys, and don't mind an anthology series.

The first toon, "Laser Baby's Day Out", is by far the best. The gentle retro flavor, combined with OTT violence and gore, is brilliant. Highly recommended.

The other toons vary greatly in quality. They're ALL watchable, but expect some to not be to your taste, as there is a lot of diversity here.

One wonders what someone new to the Vought universe would make of all this (hmm ...).

I do think it's great that folks like Awkwafina (The Farewell), Christian Slater (Archer), Aisha Tyler (Archer), Nasim Pedrad (SNL), Andy Samberg (SNL), and so many others helped.

I rate this at six (6) stars overall. The Boys and Gen V are better.

It's nowhere near the quality of either Boys or Invincible. Some episodes are entertaining but gore seems to be only thing it is going for. There is no plot, every episode is another story and... Just give us The Boys. Or another Vought newsletter. That was really unnecessary.

I really like a couple of these. I like the concept too. Each episode is done in a different style by different people. I thought the Looney Tunes one was pretty good. There were a couple others that were good, a couple watchable and a couple just awful.

The poop one done in anime was dreadfully awful. Just painful to get through. And that's what you remember about a show like this. The really terrible ones. The last one about the Asian couple was bad too. Why did the wife have no eyeballs? It was supposed to be about a loving couple in the Vaught world but it was pretentious and dumb.

Best is that each episode only comes in at around 15 minutes. Plus I love the dog at the beginning of each episode, a couple of them were laugh out loud funny.

I love the Boys itself, looking forward to the next season. If they put out more of these cartoons I'd watch again.