Edge-lander, Pone-lander and Brit-Lander. My tablet pen died for good while I was creating these monsters. They are cursed.
I love character designing and redesigning characters. I figured I would make some 'The Boys' Fanart more personal by doing just that. I'm thinking I'll call 'em alt-landers.
Le original characters, donut steel!
Learn more about these variants and my design intentions below. ⬇️ (It's interesting, I promise.)
Edge-lander / Jon Killman 🐦⬛🗡️ ➡️ Silver raven motifs replace Homelander's golden eagle accents from his pauldrons to his belt and booties. ➡️ Thigh-high platform heels give him a height boost - he's finally able to look Billy Butcher in the eye, and it probably makes curb stomping people more fun. Inspired by Louboutins, the sole of his stompers are red for added dramatic effect. ➡️ American flag cap shifts from monochrome to coloured, giving it a more dramatic flair. ➡️ Blend of a corset and girdle fashioned of leather contours his waist, fastened with multiple buckles. ➡️ Obligatory fingerless gloves and black nail polish. ➡️ Heterochromia in his left (red) eye, closest to his cold, dark, broken sad boy heart. Attests to his true nature of cruelty. (No shade to heterochromie homies, I have central heterochromia myself). ➡️ The surname 'Killman' plays on Homelander's actual surname 'Gillman'. And it just sounds edgy, it makes sense. Further comment: Came to me in a daydream. I'm a goth and thought it would be funny to make Homelander even edgier than he already is. Also, the world needs more goths.
--- Pone-lander / Sir Starry-Spangled Yankee Doodle Dandy 🦄🇺🇸 ➡️ His wings carry the colouration of the American flag. ➡️ The name inspiration is fairly obvious, I think it speaks for itself. It's supposed to be on the nose, cutesy and silly, much like most MLP names. ➡️ I think he looks rather cute as a pony as his gloves look like goofy oven mitts. Further comment: Elements of harmony got their work cut out with this one. MLP variants, specifically of Homelander, have been done to death. I initially doodled him months to years ago and finalised the design/illustration at last. I grew up with Gen 1 MLP on VHS and I have a soft spot for the franchise as a whole, so I just had to.
It's fun to imagine what sort of interactions he'd have with canon characters. I think the mane six would want to try and redeem him. Maybe they'd give him the Nightmare Moon treatment and depower him, much like what happened in The Boys TV show. In this case, he'd be forced to live out his life as a mortal, a just punishment I think; as naturally; he would hate it. But will he ever accept friendship? If not, they might need to follow up with the stone treatment.
--- Brit-Lander / Jonathan Gillingham. 🦁🇬🇧 ➡️ Overall outfit inspired by the uniform of the UK's colonel-in-chief (of various military regiments), a ceremonial position held currently by King Charles III of the United Kingdom. I felt this was fitting because Homelander himself is a farcical character who pretends to be things he is not. I'll leave my direct opinions of our king out of this and just say, the title and uniform belie an air of importance that isn't really present, which I feel is fitting for Brit-lander. His outfit is a simplified version of this uniform but still bears some flamboyant details such as the aiguillettes (braided gold ropework) work on his breast that make him a little more flashy and pompous than his American counterpart. ➡️ Golden lion motifs replace Homelander's golden eagle accents on Brit-lander, from his pauldrons to his belt and booties. The lion is is a long established symbol of the UK from Royal heraldry to culture and even our currency (coinage) bears the symbol of the lion. ➡️ The most natural difference between Homelander and his British counterpart, of course, would be his cape which now bears the Union Jack (the flag of the United Kingdom of Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England). ➡️ He takes the name Jonathan which I feel we can agree is a bit more of a pompous way to just say 'John'. Following this, the name 'Gillingham' refers to an English place-name and more significantly sounds like a more 'British' version of Gillman, Homelander's actual surname, and I figured it fit well. Further comment: In his universe, Vought probably exists in the place of the BBC (British Broadcasting Company) as the VBC (Vought Broadcasting Company). The BBC is a long standing (Est 1922) national entertainment and broadcasting institution in the UK which somewhat mirrors Vought's influence in the USA, in The Boys universe. In reality, the BBC is also subject to quite a bit of criticism and scrutiny, but I won't get into that here. Vought is also long established (1950) and has a sense of monopoly on entertainment and culture within the USA in The Boys universe, so I feel like this fits relatively well.
I also kept thinking, a parody of Fawlty Towers called 'Voughty Towers' with The Boys characters would probably be quite amusing. I reccomend the show if you're interested in British comedy.
I'm a Brit myself, so I was thinking it'd be fun to make a British version of Homelander, inspired as well, in part, by the one-shot comic 'Superman: True Brit'.
--- Last but not least: For anyone who bothered reading this far, here's something of interest to note. Homelander's surname 'Gillman' is a derivative of a diminutive of 'William' (Say that five times fast), evolving from the French version of the name William (Guillaume). Another way in which Billy (William) Butcher and John Gillman (Homelander) mirror one another, be that intentional or not. I love niche details and facts like this.
Sorry for the tag spam. I tag a lot to link stuff back to my personal website (WIP) easily.