Firstly, I want to acknowledge that I'm very late to the discussion around this point. I only just discovered this aspect of the OSP community, and I just wanted to see if anyone felt the same way as me.

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The "Satirising Superman" video. I thought it was well put-together and thoughtful, with a lot of focus on the history of the character and a demonstration of a great amount of knowledge about the character's run, which was what made it all the more baffling when Red and Blue began to lambaste The Boys with the tacked-on caveat that neither of them had actually seen it.

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Obviously, they don't have to watch it. They made it clear that it's not something that appeals to them, and I can see why. I have watched it, and while I enjoyed most of it, there were definitely parts that felt gratuitous and unnecessary, and it's not something that I would recommend. However, if I hadn't seen it, I don't think I'd have felt justified in talking so authoritatively on the matter, and I certainly wouldn't have listed it as the prime bad example of a superman-alike.

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It just seemed lazy, and really stood out in the video. They could have used a different example of a bad superman-alike, or if they really absolutely felt the need to reference Homelander, then they could have sucked it up and watched it. I feel like, if you asked someone who had already seen the show to help, you could skip over the gross stuff and still get a good idea of the character of Homelander. It would take a bit of work and time, but it could be done.

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But I think what confused me the most was the response to the criticism from fans. I was watching that Twitter thread for almost the entire time, and I didn't see anyone saying that they absolutely had to sit down and watch the show, regardless of if it made them feel uneasy or grossed-out. No one was suggesting they be strapped down Ludovico-style with a vomit bucket on hand. Most people that I could see were understanding of the hesitance to engage with something like The Boys, but were annoyed that OSP felt they knew enough about the show to be able to criticize it.

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If I was asked for my opinion of a book I hadn't read, I would simply say that I hadn't read it and move on. I wouldn't say that, and then proceed to present it as a prime bad example of a media trope and compare it unfavourably to a book I did like. It just seems like common sense to me.

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But, as I said, it wasn't their decision to include The Boys as a bad example despite having admitted to not having watched it. It was the indignant way that OSP, and I mostly mean Red, decided to respond by doubling down and outright refusing to ever watch it. This seemed bizarre to me, as I don't think anyone was under the impression that she would change her mind and I don't recall anyone recommending it to her. It seems childish, the equivalent of the Pingu "well now I'm not doing it" meme but coming from a grown adult. Again, I don't think she needed to have watched it, but I do think that there was a more elegant way of bringing Homelander up without villifying him as a prime bad example.

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And it was the refusal to admit fault that rankled me. When nearly every response is telling you, quite politely I might add, that you might have missed the mark, it would be mature to admit fault and move on. And I know that they touched on this in the follow-up video, with Blue mentioning that he watched the necessary scenes to be able to talk about the Homelander-Plane scene, and I think that's great. Blue seems like the more mature of the pair of them, and the impression I get from the OSPod is that Red has trouble admitting when she's wrong.

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Anyway, I've rambled on a fair bit, but this is something that's been festering in the back of my mind for months, so I guess this is my way of expelling it. I love OSP and the stuff they put out, but this was something that took the sheen off slightly.