was Seth Rogen more involved with the early seasons of The Boys? I’m just trying to figure out why it’s gone so badly downhill, if there’s a clear demarcation point. This season had a bunch of issues but my biggest gripe has got to be how much absolutely worse the satire has gotten. While the political commentary was never subtle
spoilers in case you haven't watched the first two seasons
Vought cannibalizing Starlight’s trauma to polish their own image after she metoo’s the deep in season 1, and season 2’s criticism of the American project as being in continuity with Nazism (Vought being founded by an escaped nazi scientist, and the not-so-subtle imagery of Homelander shtupping Stormfront in his uniform w/ the american flag flowing behind him) were way more textured and insightful critiques of capitalism and amerikkka than what we have now. Not to mention the whole supes in the military plotline putting a welcome spotlight on the evils of American imperialism.
Even S3 - which got a bit messier and rougher around the edges - had some better critique.
more spoilers
Soldier Boy was a pretty effective depiction of a certain idealized american brand of mid 20th century suburban patriarch toxic masculinity being stuck out of time, some of the world building when they go to Russia (like the satirical graffiti of the Supes) showed insight into how ppl outside the imperial core see the US vis a vis superheroes, and there was the whole Iran-Contra subplot keeping the anti-imperialist critique going.
Now it’s just…“haha aren’t these maga freaks craaaaaaaaazy? January 6th was v bad. also remember pete buttigieg cia lmao hhaha we’re on twitter too” which like yes they are but that’s some of the most low hanging bullshit fruit you could come after. Also the whole
spoiler
save the president plotline
really falls flat when like…he was basically a shithead villain in previous seasons? Like he was intentionally depicted as an enthusiastic, staunch participant in imperial violence and was collabing with Stan Edgar on the whole supes in the military thing (he might have disagreed with it on practical grounds but IIRC was ready to play ball). Idk shit sucks, show used to be clever and fun and pandered to my politics specifically when very little popular media did.
That’s okay. I’ll still keep drinking that garbage 
Confession: while I find most models of conventional masculinity range from vaguely alienating-to-actively repellant (
) Billy Butcher is actually a model of toxic masculinity that i find extremely sick and cool 
(yes yes i know he’s basically a bad man but he’s coooooooooooooool)