#pique-bois

[batbabydamian]

hello, i love your blog! i was wondering, is robin: son of batman a good place to start reading about damian, for someone who pretty much just know the basics about him? i know the actual beginning would be somewhere in morrison's run, but r:sob really catch my attention :p

short-ish answer:

i read Damian’s comic appearances/runs in a bonkers order when i first started, and i think R:SOB was one of the easier places to jump in!! it’s a fairly isolated adventure that encapsulates a lot of what makes Damian as Robin so charming!!

Robin: Son of Batman (2015) #1

Gleason’s pitch for this series was basically “Damian on a journey with a bat dragon as his muscle lol :)” and then proceeded to create a story that puts you through a roller coaster of fun!! and emotion!!

long answer:

there’s a bit of history to some of the characters that appear, but it’s summed up quickly so you’re not totally confused!

but here’s a rundown of references beforehand if you’re interested :]

Maya is a new character introduced in this run! her father, Morgan Ducard, was killed by Damian during the arc “Born to Kill” in Batman and Robin (2011) #1-8 another solid entry point into reading Damian!

Batman and Robin (2011) #8

Talia was killed in the same arc as Damian’s own death in Batman Incorporated (2013) #1-13. after a series of events in which Ra’s steals Talia’s and Damian’s bodies from their graves, Talia is revealed to have revived and now hangs around Nanda Parbat with no memories (Batman and Robin (2011) #29-32, Robin Rises: Omega, Batman and Robin #33-37, Robin Rises: Alpha)

Robin Rises: Alpha

Damian’s clone brothers were made by Ra’s accelerating Talia’s method of growing super-humans. during the chase for Damian and Talia’s stolen bodies, Bruce and Aquaman encounter the clones right as they’re born in Batman and Robin (2011) #29

Aquaman keeps them in his custody until Damian, freshly revived, claims them as family and takes them to Al Ghul island to live freely :’) Batman and Robin (2011) #38

Batman and Robin (2011) #38

[badnewswhatsleft]

i pulled the video of patrick's songwriting sessions with before you exit from here so noone has to deal with weird mercurial links anymore

i also put it here if anyone wants to download for keeps :3 because look at him!!

[drugsforaddicts]

🎥 : piquedjacks_

spot your blorbos

[slightly-depressed-sloth]

Little fandom vent; sometimes I get annoyed at the way fandom reduces Damian down to stabby child who only cares about himself and does murder. Like yeah while I get fandom almost always reduces characters down to their funniest or snappiest traits Damian's just doesn't make sense.

Like his whole character is about how much he DOESNT want to be those things.

Damian cares so so so much about other people he just struggles to express it bc it takes a lot for him to trust someone enough to believe they're not going to pull the rug out from under him or betray him somehow. If he didn't care about other people he wouldn't have spent months trying to find Martha's pearls in the sewer, risking his life bc there was a bounty on his head at this point and further ruining his image with Bruce (who thought Damian was just sneaking off and putting himself in danger). He wouldn't have denounced the league and everything he knew to protect a man he'd met less than a year ago. He wouldn't have purposely failed a timed test as Robin to get across the city as fast as possible (a test that would've allowed him to go out alone as Robin and given him more independence one of things Damian values very highly) instead he went over the allowed time by more than 10 hours BC he helped old women with their shopping and walked women home after they were robbed and he sat with a man he saw crying in his apartment for more than 2 hours just having tea with him. I could go on and on about all the genuinely kind things he does bc Damian's empathy and kindness is one of his defining traits actually.

And yeah he used to kill people and he was more prone to violence than the other Robins but he was literally raised in an environment where his worth and by proxy his survival was tied to how well he did murder. I'm pretty sure if you raised any child in an environment where since they were born they were rewarded for killing and violence but punished for showing mercy and told them that it's for the greater good, that they're special and that there's nothing wrong with killing if the ends justify the means they'd end up the same.

Not to mention Damian fights so hard to not be violent bc he doesn't want to be, the people Damian admires most in the world (Dick and Jon) both based their entire personality around Superman (also it's confirmed Supes is his fav justice Leaguer in supersons). Damian wants to be like them so bad and wants to be kind and outgoing and as pacifist as you can get as a vigilante. Damian struggles so much to be that person but it's not as easy as just stopping when you've been conditioned your whole life that killing is the right move and that your worth as a person and the love of those around is dependent on you doing it. He literally keeps a sketch book where he just draws out all the intrusive violent thoughts he gets while fighting villains to get the anger and compulsion out so that he DOESN'T do those things. And Damian feels immensely guilty about all of his past murders which is shown over and over. When he kills no-body (an action he did to protect Bruce) he asks Bruce afterwards how he's supposed to make amends, how he's supposed to live with it.

Which leads me onto the other thing (and hopefully the last cause wow this is getting long) even Damian at his absolute worst only performs extreme violence out of either self defense or logic to him. He doesn't do it out of maliciousness (or at least that isn't the motivating factor). His worst actions were probably in his introduction where he 1) He accosted Alfred and stole the key to exit the batcave 2) Decapitated a villian 3) Attacked Tim

So let's get background on these events from Damian's pov. Damian has never been told who his father is and has to duel his mother every year on his birthday for the chance to find out. And then on his 10th birthday he wins and then that same night he's taken on a plane to go live with this man who he's told about on the plane ride over, then his first impression of him is Bruce fighting a bunch of manbats. His mother says she's leaving him with him indefinitely not telling him when she'll be back. And then this man who he only found out about hours beforehand takes him on another plane to a foreign country where he knows no-one and he finds out his father has other children as well. He's then locked in a small room adjoining a fucking cave full of weapons and told virtually nothing with no-one really talking to him except for them telling him that oh yeah everyone you know and trust is evil and your whole world view is wrong. And then when he yells at Bruce and has what's honestly best described as a temper tantrum (BC oh yeah he was literally 9 years old until a couple hours ago) Bruce in a bid to try and control his anger (since he's not sure how dangerous he is yet) uses league tactics on Damian telling him that he's dishonouring those who taught him. So the literal child whose spent his 10th birthday being flown around the globe to be a dumped in a foreign country with a man he's never met and only knows is a good fighter with a family consisting of an unknown amount of other allies who are similarly trained and then was locked in a room after being told his whole life is a lie might be forgiven for latching onto the only familiar thing here and going 'oh! Now I know how this works'

With the knowledge that Damian definitely decided from this conversation that the bats operate the same as the league it's pretty clear his reasoning is

1) Accosting Alfred and and stealing the key - a) I don't think you'd wanna be locked in a space by a bunch of strangers either no matter how nice the space is b) he probably assumed it was a challenge to see whether he was able to break out and a way they were testing his worth/ability

2) Decapitated a villian - once again assuming this is a test and trying to prove his worth/help his father in the mission to stop crime he was just told about

3) attacked Tim - a) Damian assumes that since Tim is home that he must be the current favourite and it's already known that in the league the way you replace someone is by killing them thus proving you were better than them. B) in the league if you were not the favourite/the best you were disposable c) the only way Damian knows how to earn/receive love is by performing violence, it's pretty reasonable that a 10 year old would try to go above and beyond to earn their new father's love (especially for a child like Damian whose always looking for that unconditional love he's been denied)

From Damian's perspective here he's being the best son anyone could want, he's doing the most past the point he'd be expected to and only being met with anger and disgust. Not to mention that from his view he's literally ensuring his safety since once again in the league Damian was one of the only people whose safety was ensured by proxy of him being the heir/favourite, we literally see them kill other leaguers as part of training.

Like this isn't to excuse what he did or say it's right but it is to point out that it WAS right from Damian's point of view and that he doesn't do what he does out of malice or blood thirst he's just a small child who quite literally didn't know any better.

(also him being mean is similarly a self defense thing, it's fairly common in abused kids. It's the logic of you can't hurt me if I hurt you first/you can't hurt me if I don't let you get close enough)

[ashbunny2027]

On another DBD rewatch - in "The Case of the Very Long Stairway" (ep7) there's an exchange between Niko and the Night Nurse (NN) where they talk about the possibility of Niko's dad coming back. NN essentially says he will be a zombie and that Niko wouldn't want that. Then Niko asks about Kashi - "Was the man in the fish a zombie?"

To which NN replies "Honestly? I don't know what he was, but you remind me of him"

Niko goes on to ask if NN likes him but she deflects.

The key thing for me is that Niko reminds the NN of Kashi. It could be in personality or a hint that they both possess otherworldly power/ they're very kind? 🤔🤔🤔 Not sure what I'm trying to say here lol

[nocturnalnewsiestrash]

I finally convinced my bestie to watch Dead Boy Detectives and you wanna know how I did it? It wasn't me telling her how similar she is to Niko, it wasn't me showing her all of Niko's outfits, it wasn't me talking about Niko and Edwin's friendship, it wasn't the Orpheus and Eurydice allegory, it wasn't me blabbering about how good my ghosties show was for weeks. No, instead it was me talking about Charles and his shiny dangly earring and showing her gifs of him. He's truly bi ADHDer catnip I swear

[stickbug-made-entirely-of-spite]

Heyyy should I post a colour palette for the buggy boi? Is that something anyone would be interested in?

[27dragons]

Sully frog says trick or treat (also he says please save him from silly hats, but you can't help with that part)

Not only could I not help, but I probably wouldn't; that hat is entirely too adorable! Please give Sully many smooches and pets from me! <3

Have a 3-sentence (or a bit more) fic with the Dead Boys!

***

"What on earth are you doing?" Edwin demanded, picking his way fussily around the fake tombstones, leering pumpkins, eerie lights, and bags of candy.

Charles grinned from his perch on top of a stepladder, where he was tacking a runner of flying witches to the top of the wall. "'S for Halloween! Brills, ain't it?"

"Charles. We are actual, literal ghosts, who have been to actual, literal Hell, and we can't even actually eat this candy! What is so exciting about this for you?"

"I mean, if you don't want to snuggle up on the couch and watch scary movies, I guess I can take it all down..."

Edwin hesitated, then turned toward the kitchen. "I'll make popcorn."

[boabel]

what even is a single fandom account. ur subjected to my random guy posts forever

[gellavonhamster]

monthly media recap: july 2024

read:

Perceval, the Story of the Grail by Chrétien de Troyes - Grail stories about Perceval >>>>> Grail stories about Galahad, there, I said it. The plot is mostly the same as in von Eschenbach's Parzival, so it was not quite new to me, but still interesting to read and compare. I tried reading the continuations too, but the first one was lulling me into a kind of reading slump. Perhaps I'll return to them later, either that one again or starting with the second one

Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner - old maids who just wanna do their own thing, make some noise, this one's for us. A lot like Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own in its ideas, but with witches and the Devil towards the end. The heroine is definitely joining the ranks of my favourite female literary characters

Longshadow by Olivia Atwater - a delightful conclusion to a delightful trilogy; strange magic, Regency lesbians, friendly ghosts, and musings on death that unexpectedly resonated with me.

watched:

RRR (2022) - epic, life-changing friendship x 1000, did I mention epic?

Bottoms (2023) - debated with myself whether I like this movie or think it tries too hard; decided that it does try a little bit too hard but I still like it

[victim9d]

god tate is sooooo fucking stupid

[waywardsalt]

every so often i have doubts abt making bellum x linebeck like. a good relationship at the end of the day like they like each other and care abt each other. but it is for me and i do enjoy bellum being wrangled like an angry cat into situations where he HAS to be nice and HAS to refrain to killing everyone and in the middle of that development realizes he feels differently about linebeck than anyone else

[piqueconcentration]

Sonny Boy Retrospective

Originally written 11/27/21

When I was very young and enjoyed things like the Alice in Wonderland remake, I remember I asked my mom what made something (I’m assuming that I asked about movies but for the purpose of whatever this is I’ll say all media, even though that is absolutely not something a child would say) “good.” I asked her because I had noticed that she usually wasn’t very fond of the movies that I liked, which I said were “good,” and I couldn’t really find much value in the old movies that she would talk about. In response, my mom said that she thought the way to tell was if the movie made you feel something. As I was, I took that definition and stored it in the important section of my brain and I’m sure I parroted it off to people who did and did not ask- this was before I recognized my own opinions.

In any case, the divide between knowing what most consider to be objective quality in any media versus just knowing that it made you feel something has become something of great import in my content-addled brain. I can say that a camera angle or shot is really cool or difficult to pull off while secretly holding the knowledge that I watched a video about something mildly related on youtube, and I had miraculously become a connoisseur of film after falling down an internet rabbit hole of people with all their own opinions, presenting them in a carefully crafted or just very loud manner. I can absolutely tell you a fun fact about a script in some movie that is considered “good” by the masses (that absolutely must be above my age- if the piece is popular among my peers, that is a big no-no) that I can’t tell if I actually enjoy or not because of all of the armchair cinema genius I have consumed over the years of lying on my stomach, arms draped over a pillow with a phone in hand.

This is not to say that I have learned nothing from the videos I have watched, in fact I hold a great respect for their creators in all learning domains- it is much more a Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of a young [My Name]- my younger self (but older than in the first paragraph- you get the idea) was due for a bit of a reconstruction in terms of my ability to form my own thoughts about the media that I present to myself. Even now, though I have more faith in my ability to actually know whatever the fuck I’m talking about, if i tried to fully separate my thoughts from the part of me that yearns for pop-culture centric admiration, I would have trouble finding the line between what I know because I know it myself and what I know because it relates to something that someone else said at me. I have not fully rid myself of the epigonic urge.

Anyway, I just finished watching Sonny Boy. As I’m writing this, I’m worried that I may have written more in the introduction than I will have written in this whole-ass thing because the surge of motivation to write after watching will have faded by the time I get to the godforsaken point; the point being: Sonny Boy is really quite good. I could say that the animation is beautiful and the music is powerful and the story is impactful but there are an extraordinary amount of anime like that that I haven’t bothered to watch, and if my goal is to get people to actually watch Sonny Boy and not just put it on their “plan to watch” list to die of neglect, I want to take a different route.

A haiku~

I don’t understand

What the fuck happened at all

But it made me feel.

I will also say that I actually understood the plot more than the friends who watched some of it with me, so there’s that, as well. Another thing: I’m usually not a fan of shows or movies that are incomprehensible- I tend to think that one of the most important challenges of the creation of these things is relaying information to the audience with as few barriers as possible (which, I’m now realizing, is super ironic, considering I’m an American who regularly watches Japanese television in Japanese with English subtitles, not to mention the state of the translation of the show in question, which I’ll get to later), while it may have been one of my favorite shows at the time, it is difficult for me to look back fondly on the last few episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion because I don’t really feel smart enough to either form a satisfying interpretation or piece together the jumbled information, gorgeous as it may be.

Sonny Boy, like many anime, is about high schoolers. The similarities with the other anime that I have seen mostly end there. One day the school is transported- actually, no. I think, honestly, it’s best if you go in blind. The sheer number of concepts -ideas that I hadn’t thought anyone would have the literary courage to expand upon- that are introduced is immense. Each episode feels like, at their least intense, an invitation to look back at your mind and your comfort zone- a philosophical stroll where you can choose how deeply you want to explore the themes through your own level of engagement. At most intense- a stupefying accusation where, in my case, my sentence was to sit in silence for several minutes after the episode ended, mind completely caught up in that painfully perfect outro song.

In all honesty my personal high school experience, externally, wasn’t that bad- there wasn’t really any social hierarchy at my school, I had a lot of good teachers, I found some really wonderful friends; but if I’d had bullies or social trauma or if most people actively disliked me instead of just thinking I was awkward and leaving me alone- I think Sonny Boy would have made me bawl my eyes out (it did get pretty close regardless). I don’t usually cry that often, but if you do, tread with caution.

It’s difficult for me to judge the show by comparing it to others, though, and I think that has something to do with its structure. Each episode is layed out/edited, it seems, not with narrative cohesion or continuity in mind, but with the flow of the emotions that it attempts to evoke. Scenes happen one after the other, but the first may be in the “present” and the next may be a memory, or a shot from the future. Honestly, using the word “present” doesn’t feel quite right because there often isn’t a continual flow at all- past and future and middle occurring side by side in seemingly random order. But it isn’t random. Somehow, I have no idea how, the editors or storyboard artists or whatever -I don’t know how it was made- put the whole thing together without making it feel jarring or really that disorganized, there’s just a shift from perceiving the show as a sequence of events to a strung-together series of feelings where, at the end of the episode, sometimes it makes sense and sometimes it doesn’t.

It has some problems. Usually I can’t really comment (thankfully- I’m conceited enough with scripts in English) on anime scripts and dialogue because I can’t understand Japanese aside from your usual anime and manga phrases/words that are repeated ad nauseum. In this case, I will only say that the official English translation (for the subtitles- the show probably wasn’t popular enough to warrant a dubbed version) is not good when compared to the ones for most other seasonal anime. You can usually tell what the subtitles mean, but it’s a puzzle for the audience, not the creators- words are jumbled up, there are typos and grammatical errors, many phrases are just off enough to make you think about how they were probably translated by someone who just mostly understood English, and by that point there have been two more lines of dialogue.

Also, sometimes the editing does bug me. Maybe I would benefit from a rewatch, but there were definitely a couple times when I got to the end of an episode and just had even less of an idea of what was going on than what is required to get the desired emotional impact.

Sometimes I will read a review of something, and, as a human, I tend to most heavily remember the negative things that were listed, so I’ll say this: I adore this show. It hit me like an emotional truck. It has one of my favorite soundtracks in any piece of media. It has taught me things (not entirely sure what yet, but I’ll figure that out in time- I know that I learned) about the nature of will and familiarity. One of those shows that I will absolutely recommend, but it affected me so much that I might not want to watch it with you.

I don’t know. Maybe it just hit me harder for whatever reason. I realize that a lot of this analysis has just been me writing about my own experiences, but that’s what this show did to me. I was left with not just emotion, but the desire to look back on my own life. It made me actually create something, which, for me, is the ultimate compliment. If you can get this box of raw spaghetti to willingly get up and write, you have achieved more than the majority of my thirteen years of schooling.

It also has the best soundtrack of any I've ever heard.

In short, Sonny Boy was a very fulfilling drug trip of a show. I feel like I’ve undergone a change and had an intensely meaningful experience, but trying to wrap my head around how I got there is too much for me to handle. What I mean to say is that, though its inscrutability may be a deterrent to some, it happened to give me a clearer view of the show as a whole. I can’t tell you exactly why I love it so much, I can’t tell you why it was created or what definitely happened in the story or even what it’s really about, but for me I know, without a doubt in my mind, that it’s “good.”

[songwritingauslly]

just finished watching puss in boots the last wish and now i understand the hype

[demigod-of-the-agni]

was doing the FFXV crossover event and I saw my wol do this and went "YOU'RE INDIAN!!?"

that's the desi nod,,,, he did it,,,,,,,!! never would i have imagined him doing that,,,,,,,,,,,,

[blu-bat]

thinking about my relationship with fashion and being nonbinary and being black and I simply can't forgive the white queers for making me think the "default" nonbinary was just being skinny and masc

but also shoutout to all the nonbinary poc (especially black nonbines) that break that stigma. goes to show that even in the grander scheme of the alphabet mafia you still need your own communities to resonate with