#EoM is very much a trimax thing

[having-a-hyperfixate]

Don’t mind me sprinting to try and get this thought in order before the Anime Expo panel. I need it to be out in the wild Just In Case.

So, a few of the Gung Ho Guns have gotten reworked for Stampede, yes? To varying degrees.

Ninelives is apparently not a horrific flesh mech, Dark Souls boss thing, according to the end credits of episode 3.

E.G. the Mine just got a HUGE upgrade and didn’t get owned 3 seconds after he showed up.

Monev was an actual character with a fubar backstory and emotional impact instead of just Some Guy who trained in a basement for years specifically to kill Vash. (and Orange is SO EVIL for this)

Elendira is. *gestures futilely* There is so much going on there but yeah. She’s going to be terrifying once she achieves adult body and loses (drops?) the childish attitude. Also because of the whole Plant hybrid thing her nails truly are literally infinite sooooo.

So I have some thoughts about Hoppered the Gauntlet.

In Trimax, Gauntlet’s narrative weight comes from the fact that he makes Vash remember, which by extension makes US, the reader, understand what July really meant. Before that we had heard mention of it a few times as ‘a city destroyed in a single night’ and talk of there being ‘no survivors’ but we had no actual connection to it, and also no real idea if that was even true. But in Stampede, we saw July happen. We were there. So even if Vash’s memory is still shot afterwards, and he doesn’t remember Lost July, we the audience DO. So having the Dragon’s nest play out exactly the same isn’t going to have the same narrative punch in the gut that it did in Trimax. It can’t.

There’s also the fact that, given how we’ve met most of the major players in the story, or had them mentioned at least (hi Milly), it feels kind of Odd™ that we haven’t seen someone has emotionally impactful as Gauntlet yet.

Unless we have.

We saw with Rollo/Monev that Orange is willing to have the person’s regular name be one thing and then have a second Eye of Michael code name. I suspect that is going to happen with Gauntlet; either because EoM or because he has decided on his own to lie about who he was.

And yes, I do in fact have someone in mind.

I checked myself the translation there is accurate; the only change I would make is calling the gun ‘gaudy’ instead of ‘shiny’ but that’s not a huge deal. Also for the record, the original tweet is from Jan. 11, well before he makes his reappearance for the season finale. So when it talks about a ‘reappearance’, it is talking about seeing him again in July. Original tweet here, tweet containing the translation here.

I think Chuck Lee is going to be our Gauntlet. That he made it just far enough out of the city to survive, but that he was badly maimed in the process, and that his family didn’t make it. He’s the ONLY member of the military police with a unique design. He has an actual name, and the director himself tweeted about his backstory. His gun is so unusual that we would recognize it anywhere. Hell, I referred to him as ‘the gold gun guy from episode one’ when one of my friends didn’t recognize him immediately. His gun is so incredibly recognizable. Almost like we need to be able to recognize him by that alone, when everything else about him has changed.

THIS could be how narrative weight for Gauntlet is established in the Stampede universe when it can’t be done the same way as in Trimax. Taking a character who has, in a way, also been with the audience ALL ALONG, who was there with us for two pivitol moments, the beginning and the awakening, but who comes at it from such a horrifically different angle and bringing him back in such an agonizing way. Because he was very much in the wrong with his stunt at Jeneora Rock, but his rage over the loss of his family in July would be justified, even if we know it wasn’t Vash’s fault.

(Also, the IRONY of him ending up as one of Knives’s lackeys when Knives is the one that caused all of this? Damn.)

Footnote: I have Thoughts on why they can get away with adding Milly to The Squad late. That is a whole other Thought but tldr; (and also I haven’t actually written it out) Milly is the most perceptive of all of them she doesn’t NEED an extended intro to Vash to Know.

[collieii]

one line in trimax that's always stuck with me is from chapter 65, right after wolfwood's death. when vash is sticking the punisher by his grave and he says "it was part of his life". that phrasing is so interesting to me. the neutrality of it is one thing that gets me, i think. it was part of his life. for better or worse, whatever it was, the punisher was wolfwood's.

It's pretty easy to think that the punisher might represent violence, the eye of michael, the role of assassin that was forced onto wolfwood, the loss of childhood. but it's not really presented that way, not overtly anyways. we never see wolfwood shun the punisher, he's not conflicted by his use of it. he never considers abandoning it for some other weapon. it's his weapon. he doesn't discard it when he eventually decides to take a more vash-like approach and actually let people live. he pretty easily accepts it as his own, a tool he can use. (to be fair, at least part of that is probably because the punisher is a very good gun.)

the punisher can still represent the harsher aspects of wolfwood's character, the violence he's committed, that he's capable of. that's an important part of his life! and the idea of it as representative of his violent adolescence, childhood that was stripped away, goes along with this - it's literally a cross to bear. but besides showing his past as a burden, i think of the punisher as being a cross of responsibility. when you have a gun you have power, agency - you have a responsibility to make a choice. that's what wolfwood tells vash in chapter 4.

the ability to take a life, the burden of it, is literally his cross to bear. that ability - and that responsibility - was given to him by the eom, literally in terms of the gun, and in terms of his skills. but the eye doesn't think twice about killing people. for them it's not really a choice, a responsibility, it's just a given. but wolfwood can't accept that. he's constantly considering the choices he makes.

so the punisher isn't only a symbol of the eye of michael, of the path that he was forced onto. it's also a way of expressing autonomy. the eye gave wolfwood the gun, but he decides how to use it and what it means. for much of the story wolfwood struggles to decide what to do, he's a very conflicted character. but eventually he resolves to use it against chapel, against knives, to help vash, and protect the orphanage. the gun gives him agency.

so the punisher was part of his life. it was the tool that he used to commit acts of violence, acts that he was forced into, but also the tool he used to break free.

it's heavy for vash, too. he's not exempt from that idea, the idea of responsibility. as wolfwood said much earlier in the story, vash has always been able to sidestep the question of "what do i choose?", because he's only ever given himself one option - everybody lives. and he's always succeeded. but as wolfwood says, "the day will come when you'll have to choose". one day, it's not going to work.

and of course the story progresses, the stakes ramp up, and vash learns more, goes through more, and is pushed to his limits. i think by this point, by wolfwood's death, and maybe because of it, vash has realized that he might have to make that difficult choice in the near future. that's one reason why he wants to "do him proud". he has a lot of reasons to say this of course - to not let wolfwood's sacrifice go to waste, for example. but if we're thinking of the cross as responsibility, then vash is saying he doesn't want to forget the lessons he learned because of wolfwood. wolfwood has always grappled with responsibility, with what the right thing to do is. and the right thing is often not easy. vash hopes that when the times comes for him to make a choice, he'll make a good one, one that does right by wolfwood's memory.

[ultraviolet-cello]

Yo what's up it's me, ya boi, [horrendous infection that knocked me down for a couple days]

Anyway I'll be catching up episodes 3 4 and 5 tomorrow/day after, but for now I just wanna do my thing with ep 6. 6&7 are possibly some of my favourite episodes in Tristamp, so I'm hyped to show off my theories/details about them.

Once again spoilers for Trimax [HEAVY spoilers in this case, we're talking about Legato and Razlo]

TL;DR there's something fucked up with Tristamp Livio and by extension Razlo, and I need more of them all the time.

@tristampparty I'm back in the game!

So a lot of these theories and details will link to episode 7 :]

So of note in this scene is (obviously) Wolfwood's weird red eyes which. Pretty cool ngl. But I do think there's something to be said about the way he pauses and carries the Punisher in this scene; there's a pretty popular theory that Wolfwood gets extremely overstimulated when he takes a vial and the way he pauses and wobbles with the Punisher here is, for me, more evidence for the list.

Also that they won't give this man a CAR. Give him a Thomas or something??? I think it speaks to the dehumanization of Wolfwood by EOM that he doesn't seem to get to use transport like a normal person - always set to wander the desert, because he can survive that! Not like a normal person, of course. Only the Punisher is inhuman enough to do that.

I'll have what he's having [I love that Nightow's wanted poster gets in the magazine despite being. Yknow, 30 $$]

I'll talk about this more when I actually get round to analyzing episode 5, but Roberto calling out Vash's not-being-human and then immediately going "well I'm not risking my life for that" is interesting because he's, well, a reporter. It speaks to his experience that he's not willing initially to chase down something that could be a big scoop. But also,,,, Vash looks like. 20. Roberto is probably about in his 30s-40s, which means he's probably heard of Vash since childhood [Since Tristamp Vash has a much longer reputation history than Trimax/98]. I really wonder what Roberto thinks of that; did the picture not come as a shock to him, or did he already know? Does part of the reason he keeps letting himself be talked into following Vash stem from a lifelong curiosity? Much to think about.

This plant HAUNTS me. Why does she have such a different tank? Used to power the Ion Cannon, maybe, but there's the possibility people adjusted it so she can better power the sandsteamer and that's,,,, There's a complicated relationship between humans and plants (obviously), but little implications like those adjustments make me go !!!! [My friend @millions-dykes has a Plant Engineer oc, Enigma, who focuses on that concept. She's very cool]

LIVIO SIGHTED. Let me get this out of the way quickly, but y'know that panel that is often cited as inspiration for Tristamp Livio's design? Yeah that's. That's Razlo.

Which is really fucking funny to me because it's foundational to Tristamp Livio - love that for him, but trimax Livio specifically does not wield Punishers, and the page that this appears on is when Razlo is getting Livio to tell him he's the strongest (Which then goes into this training flashback montage page which is Razlo-centric). Which again, extremely funny to me.

Not necessarily analysis, but something all iterations of Trigun do great at is a sense of Scale. The sandsteamer is massive, yes, but so is the desert. There's some great shots with the moons later on, which I love as well.

Wolfwood really doesn't try and keep it secret, huh? I mean, in every iteration Vash Knows[TM], but tristamp Wolfwood in particular just,,, doesn't keep the secret. I wonder what other conversations they've had, when Wolfwood realized Vash knew.

Being always able to see Wolfwood's eyes gives him a layer of emotion that I really like - Trimax Wolfwood is a little more reserved, because he's more developed, further layered into those coping mechanisms and repressions that make up his character. Tristamp Wolfwood hasn't quite had that yet, and it's reflected in his design. It's sick as hell

Time for me to be so normal about Livio and Razlo ^_^ so I've built up a bit of a study case on the differences in when Livio or Razlo are fronting [Trimax], and once you start looking into paneling and shit it's Very apparent! Which is cool! And I'm starting to build up one for Tristamp Livio, which,,, well, you'll see. Anyway take note of his movements here - slow, even footsteps and steady guns.

The mask here is. Also a red flag for something being Off. The eye moving independently suggests that either they have some Weirder Than Usual Body Stuff going on, that Trimax Livio and Razlo can do that and nobody comments on it because they're being polite or - My theory - the mask having those electrical components are embedded somewhat in Livio's face. I will explain in just a second.

Livio as a kid being so upset about his parents interests me - In Trimax, Razlo kills Livio's parents because Razlo was formed as a protective alter due to heavy childhood abuse, and Livio doesn't seem too upset by that specifically, more just being,,, alone. I wonder what happened with their parents in this specific timeline, or if Razlo just hasn't presented yet.

Now I've uh. Kinda semi-intentionally blocked out some stuff I've read in the Bible, but I do remember someone being crucified upside down. St Peter that was it! I don't remember anything else but I'm sure people more well-versed in the Bible will have some imagery to point out lol

Legato's outfit seems a touch inspired by that one July flashback in Trimax. Which, given that Tristamp is a leadup to July, is a nice touch!

Legato might be a bit protective of his hair. Can't imagine why.

On a more serious note, it makes sense for Legato to have such a protectiveness around his body and physical appearance, especially if Knives had an influence in it.

sands undertal

I really do wonder what Legato's ability is in this. Like unless they retrieved Vash's arm from the. Wherever it got sucked into when it was amuptated they can't go the 98 route. But the wire explanation of Trimax also doesn't quite seem to fit. Something new, maybe. Could be related to Plants!

I wonder if Vash here is thinking about Rollo. That Wolfwood was willing to kill Rollo out of mercy, and he's going to do it again to Livio. Except this time, Wolfwood knows Livio. Vash doesn't know Livio, but Wolfwood does and it's going to hurt Wolfwood if Vash lets him carry on with this. So he goes to save Livio, and save Wolfwood as well. Similar to Trimax, where Vash kills Legato to save Livio as a remnant of Wolfwood's memory, Vash here could be protecting Livio to protect Wolfwood.

Okay here's where my crack theories come in. So I do think that Razlo is elbowing his way into front about here, not even necessarily because Livio is getting his ass handed to him, but because of the mask. He's probably not fully There, because the progressing fighting style continues in Livio's movements, but the eye changes are. Well, it's Livio and Razlo you can never be too careful.

So Livio hits the mask here and is down for the count for. A Bit. What's important here to me is that the mask does of course have an electrical component. Now, what would that be for? Well, gathering that Livio seemingly has a bit of trouble after this (early episode 7, this is a two parter theory), that the mask is used by EOM to force a switch remotely. After the mask seemingly malfunctions, we get a lot more Razlo-esque movements and traits in episode 7 before Livio seems to come back in and have his little meltdown.

It links in with both dehumanization of neurodivergent people (In this case, a system) and the usage of Razlo and Livio by EOM. Razlo's very often portrayed as Big Scary Murder Alter by EOM for scare factor, whereas when we get a bit more into Razlo's head in the Elendira fight we see a bit more what he's actually like - protective alter groomed into assassinhood by Chapel - and lends more understanding to the character. EOM being able to force trigger a switch would be viscerally horrifying for that loss of autonomy theme in a way that speaks to many neurodivergent people. Thanks for coming to my ted talk????

[dragons-art-den]

VashWood Week Day 1-Werewolf AU

“Why didn’t you tell me you’re a werewolf???!!”

Featuring some TriMax panel redraws!

Wolfwood is a vampire here! In this fantasy AU Vash is a fallen angel-thing that became a werewolf. Wolfwood, however, is constantly mistaken as the werewolf of the pair. Despite very much being an artificially enhanced Vampire.

The vampire coven that made Wolfwood is akin to the EOM in this AU. And Knives is also a fallen angel. Each of the Gung-Ho Guns is a different type of mythical creature; sphinx, Selkie, siren, harpy, etc. Legato and Elendira specifically being vampire/monster hybrids.

Wolfwood has to protect Vash from the people trying to collect bounty on the fallen angel that everyone’s looking for and that every organization is willing to pay $$billions for the capture of! But he falls in love with his charge and rebels against the Eye Of Micheal.

During a difficult battle, fearing he may lose the love of his life, Vash surrenders his angelic powers. Through this act he is able to resurrect Wolfwood (This is a Wolfwood lives AU!!). Wolfwood’s coven pact to the EOM is broken since he died as a vampire and he returns from death now completely mortal. Luckily Vash’s sacrifice has made him mortal as well-though still a werewolf. The two get to live happily together into old age!!

(I wrote this out twice already but Tumblr glitched and didn’t save my writing :((( )

[ruporas]

i wanted to give you some support to counteract the weird asks. and that is to say that... your comics and art hurt me in the best way. you really are *the* trigun artist for me. you give the characters such humanity and softness. i think you're the reason trigun occupies my brain so much, and why i'm reading through trimax.

your characterization is perfect. and it's wolfwood who i'm really a sucker for. the desire to protect him, knowing how unfair his life has been, maybe even knowing what happens to him as well. he has his gruff and blunt personality but its the way he's truly a sweetheart deep down, with those he loves, and not only that, but he would continue to protect others, before himself, despite everything.

...i really love how you do angst. neither of these idiots (affectionate) would admit to anything being wrong with them, and yet you manage to beautifully portray the weights they carry. if not through tension in their relationship, then physically (scars and memories; or dark circles under eyes. "can't talk about it" might be one of my favorite works of yours) um... basically, i hope you keep up the good work, and keep making things that you love and are passionate about. don't let the opinions of others stop you. the world needs your art and your voice. i love reading your tags and everything you do. ...and i hope you are taking care of yourself, irl. you are loved. <3 thank you.

T___T THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR KIND WORDS WAHHH... i didn't mind the previous asks at all, but it really means a lot to see this kind of support and i'm happy to know my art can push that desire to read maximum!!! sincerely, one of my top goals is to just push for that, so thank you for including that detail <3

and wolfwood is absolutely my favorite character so i'm happy to know my characterization for him is good... that sentence of him continuing to protect others first instead of himself is just, :") yeah,. for his entire life basically, he's taken care of other people and if not for the eom, he could've had a gentler life of doing just that, taking care of others without the bloodshed. he is such a sweet character, it's forever painful remembering what he's endured.

and gahh thank you so much for enjoying my work and for reading my comics in general..!!! vw is the rep ever for unspoken love so i have a lot of fun exploring the different avenues that could lead to, many parts of it tends to be sad and bittersweet, but only because they love the other so much.

genuinely, thank you for all of this!! i will keep making art for as long as i can, for myself and for everyone who's willing to stop by. this kind of support is always incredibly encouraging, i really don't know how to express it properly in words, but just know i read them over like 20 times before i can even reply bc i need to digest it and explode with joy dgmkdsmgg BUT THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO SEND THIS AND FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!! have this small doodle of two very exhausted guys, they are getting thru the horrors together

[hikennosabo]

trimax vol 10 random thoughts (ch 5-8)

part 1 here.

okay, time for part 2. i don't want to do this, i have a pit in my stomach.

chapter 5:

destroying razlo's punishers... a good strategy!

getting leverage to jump by stepping on his leg, i love it

you could say he. he was. *wheeze*... i guess you could say he was... ...disarmed... [a comically large hook drags me off the stage]

wolfwood and razlo just met today (not technically but y'know), but he can read razlo so well already, taunting him like this.

THIS FIGHT...!!! it's reminding me of vash vs knives in the finale of the 98 anime! one black gun and one white gun, and them being on even ground, making the same moves...

they're an even match when they're just whaling on each other, but wolfwood has tactics that razlo doesn't. also this is an insanely cool move.

chapter 6:

^ how it feels to read trigun maximum (said again)

^ how it feels to read trigun maximum (said for a third time)

he knows wolfwood is dying. we know wolfwood is dying. he can't do anything to stop it. we can't do anything to stop it. (except for refusing to keep turning the pages, i guess)

THEY HAVE NAMES?

vash can't do anything to stop wolfwood from dying, but he can help wolfwood go out on his own terms...

PLEASE, HE'S ALREADY DYING, WE DON'T NEED YET ANOTHER DEATH FAKEOUT FOR THE BOOKS.

livio interfering... i'm not an expert but this is not how DID works. but sure. the drama carries it.

WHY AND HOW IS CHAPEL STILL ALIVE FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU

razlo realizes very fast that chapel never cared. despite his verbal denial, i think he was realizing way before this.

DESERVED!!! YES.... KILL!!!!!!

of course razlo can only attack. attack, like how he killed livio's parents. not that chapel doesn't deserve it, but this is the only thing razlo knows how to do.

ough. livio apologizing... "i'm okay now"...

so is razlo just gone now? like i said, i'm not a DID expert, i know re-integration(? not sure if that's the correct term sorry) is possible, but i don't know if this is how it works...

honestly, i feel bad for razlo. he only knew a life of violence, he was manipulated and indoctrinated by chapel, all he wanted was to be needed but his last experiences are finding out that chapel didn't care about him and then livio telling him he doesn't need him anymore. poor guy.

chapter 7:

oh, no, i don't want to read this chapter again. don't make me read this chapter again.

the difference between this and tristamp... stamp had the orphanage much more directly tied to EoM, and a bunch of guys in suits came to pick wolfwood up. this scene is a lot more "normal," a lot less obviously suspicious. idk if i'd go so far as to say stamp!melanie was in on the whole thing, but she doesn't look happy about wolfwood leaving... i do wonder how stampede will handle all this... ANYWAY!

"six years"... lmao. now i understand what people meant when they said the timeline is confusing. it's killing me and i hate it, actually?! nightow ALL you had to do was NOT specify a number!!!

the coins... i constantly forget about them and i find it funny whenever they're brought up... they were so clearly meant to set the ghg up as a shonen battle enemy-of-the-month type thing but then that got thrown off the rails when the magazine ceased publication and everything got turned upside down. yet the coins persist. what are they all for in the end.

also i'm sad. this is wolfwood's paltry attempt at pushing vash away. (also he's been carrying rai-dei's coin this whole time?! lol?! that's also sad... just waiting to give it to vash i guess...)

"this is the way you want it? are you sure?" i'm just fucking inconsolable at this point.

of course this attempt at sincere emotion is deflected. you boys are so, so, so, so, so stupid.

i can't do this man. i can't review the couch scene. i'm crying too much.

the prayer. this especially is getting to me. we've seen wolfwood pray a few times, but now it's vash's turn to pray. we've never seen him do that. and while vash was there to answer wolfwood's prayer... there is no one to answer vash.

what if i climbed into the microwave right fucking now.

ourgh. out of all the images in this chapter, this is the one that stuck with me the most. even more than the couch images. ugh, i can't even fucking write.

chapter 8:

i don't know where else to say this...? lol but livio's personality is different, he's cute now. is this because he broke out of the EoM brainwashing or because he integrated with(???) razlo? (once again: IS this how this works???) or is it both? either way he's a lot more expressive than he was before...

other people have already talked about how we didn't see the burial. i'm also thinking about everything else we didn't see. vash buried wolfwood, and he also cleaned up outside, brought livio in and laid him down, gathered ingredients and started cooking...

how long did he sit on that couch for before he moved. how much and how hard did he cry. we didn't see that either. we don't need to.

knives. he's smearing blood on his face again.

his laughter... i don't think he finds this funny like "haha funny" necessarily, i think he's just losing it.

vash defends the orphanage and knives doesn't even push it. he just moves on. hmm, i'm trying to articulate this... vash's display of power used up more of his life, which knives noticed obviously, and vash is willing to go that far to protect the orphanage... knives still doesn't want vash to die, and... he's laughing out of disbelief, or something like that. i don't know.

vash and livio sharing a meal together is... it's nice. but vash is still clearly very angry. with livio, with razlo, with himself too probably.

i don't know. i'm not angry with livio or razlo at all. they were both victims of chapel same as wolfwood. this is all chapel's fault in my mind, lol.

oh.

we're gonna see this in stampede too, aren't we. wolfwood will die for a third time and we're gonna see vash holding the punisher.

the fact that this volume doesn't even have the goofy author extra... we're just forced to sit with this. man. the book club wasn't kidding, it's so much worse the second time around. the first time i cried a little but i was mostly just taking it all in. the second time i was like actually heaving and sobbing. reading this volume twice within a few days was a BAD IDEA.

AND WE STILL HAVE FOUR VOLUMES LEFT. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GO ON AFTER THIS. four entire volumes without wolfwood...

[pancake-breakfast]

I would love to say that it took me this long to get to the final three chapters because I was afraid of what would come, but the truth is I was just very very tired.

Stream-of-consciousness thoughts for TriMax Vol. 12, Chapters 7-9 below.

Chapter 7: Run, Livio, Run

Uh, oh. I'm looking forward to seeing Livio again, but I don't want him to be in any real danger. I know he doesn't mind, but that's actually part of the problem right now.

It's a good thing Milly and Meryl remain miraculously unaffected by this smoke somehow, even though it's messing with the soldiers so much.

Oh, no! Thomas down! Milly down!

Quick shout-out to the Thomas's spiky dinosaur tail.

OMG they make yipping noises. I had no idea.

Ugh, this could be bad. Meryl is too small to carry Milly away from the scene on her own, and it looks like Milly hit her head pretty good.

Meanwhile, Vash has his hands busy with his dumbass brother.

Ugh, his hair is sooooo dark now....

Knives, buddy, have you seen yourself in a mirror yet? You're more amorphous blob than singular being at this point. You should get that checked out. By a professional. Maybe Conra--oh, wait.

Dude, that's not the face you make when you realize the brother you love so much is basically about to die. It is, however, the face you make when you're about to score a resounding victory over your sibling.

Ugh, babygirl. You're a mess, babygirl. Why....

Ugh, Domina's also a mess....

I was promised Livio in this chapter. Where is my boy Livio?

AAAAAHHHH AAAAHHHH THERE HE IS!!! JUST IN TIME!!! YAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!

LOL, Meryl's shocked face.

Hahahahaha, Livio's so awkward. How long has it been since he's had a "normal" interaction with someone else? For that matter, this isn't exactly normal. He's probably overthinking the social aspect and might need to spare more brain power to the escaping aspect.

Livio's like, "Here. Have a military-grade bomb door. I'll just set this up for you right here... and I'm off! See ya in a bit!"

There we go. He's switching over into combat mode, not gonna worry about the social aspect. That's for someone else.

The heck?! He just went straight over the top of the door!

He... uh... he miiiiight be a bit outnumbered. Just a bit.

Smart. He didn't actually need any of them to say anything. He just needed a few people to look in the right direction.

Man, he's fast.

Tornado technique deployed!

Ugh, Vash. I wish I could tell you there is another way, but if there is, I can't see it. It requires Knives doing things Knives isn't prone to doing, so things are looking very, very grim. Maybe Chronica and her buddies can somehow offer some aid... if they can just figure out what's going on.

Chapter 8: Lights

Ooh, Chronica's peeking into Domina. Plants are weird, yo.

It looks a bit messy in there, even by Plant standards.

Vash's mini-gates are scaring the hell out of the Earth fleet. I don't think Knives realizes just how dangerous they are... or how crazy Vash's precision has been in using them.

Oh, seems he has some idea.

Noooo! Vash!

I don't think "disappointed" is a strong enough word for whatever Vash might feel losing to Knives here. You know... assuming he has enough of anything left in himself to feel.

Oh, Knives is implying Vash is just unconscious. That's... good. I think.

Huh, I need to save this shot of Livio for a project I want to work on. I honestly didn't think I'd find a manga panel of him in this kind of pose. It'll be a perfect reference.

I mean, he already commandeered another military-grade metal door for his own purposes, so I don't think this one stands much of a chance. Especially if the primary barring mechanism is on the OUTSIDE.

Shout-out to his EoM-themed twin gun holsters. Not sure how he hides those monster fangs in there, but whatever. They look cool.

Ugh, Vash.... Vash, are you ok? Tell me you're ok.

I'm not sure I quite understand the lights here. Are those... representative of the people down below?

Ahhhh! He's moving! He's moving!!! He looks like absolute shit, but he's moving!

KNIVES YOU LITTLE BITCH LEAVE HIM ALONE!!! And other things to say to Knives if you want to get yourself insta-killed.

Wait, why does Knives suddenly look afraid?

Up? Chronica?

Wait, why we focusing on Livio right now?! I love you, Livio, but I need to know what's going on with Knives and Vash!

Wait, what's happening??

Ok, I got it. Knives got hit by something from space at the same time Livio went through the door to the little shelter thing. I'm following, I'm following. Also, hi, Elendira. I was wondering where you were.

Vash has an opening.

FUCK. FUCKITY FUCK FUCK FUCK WHY FUCKING LEGATO GOSHFREAKING DARNIT EVERY SINGLE FREAKING TIME THIS GUY SHOWS UP AND IF HE ISN'T IN FULL BAGWORM STATE ALL I CAN DO IS SWEAR BECAUSE GODSDAMMIT LEGATO YOU MONSTER!!!

Vash looks none too happy. Which makes sense considering the last time he faced off with Legato. Knives, on the other hand, looks like he genuinely doesn't know what to make of all this.

Awww, he's so happy.... I really need to update my collage of his seriously unhinged smiles.

Chapter 9: Two People Against The World

CW: Sexual abuse, sexual assault, depersonalization, abuse

Yusssss, Legato backstory! I've been waiting for this traumafest!

Note: While having a traumafest backstory might help explain one's monstrous actions, it does not, in fact, excuse them, especially as one matures into adulthood and (theoretically) gains a better understanding of action and consequence. The world is so much bigger than our trauma. Now back to your regularly scheduled reaction post.

Ah, I guess Legato and Vash did have ample time to get to know each other over those seven months.

The funny thing about this title is, assuming it refers to Legato and Knives, it's definitely Legato's perspective. I've seen people spell out some pretty decent evidence that Knives cares for Legato more than he admits, but the fact of the matter is Knives doesn't admit it. Knives repeatedly treats their relationship with a level of disregard that suggests no matter how much he values Legato, he's nowhere near admitting it enough to himself to allow room for thinking something like it's the two of them against the world. Gods, I could write essays on the dynamic between two. I adore how much there is to analyze with Legato and Knives. I love how it's Wolfwood and Vash taken to quite possibly the worst extreme.

Heh. Vash looks... almost relieved. And Legato looks almost peaceful here. I wonder if perhaps they reached some sort of understanding, as unlikely as that seems.

Oh, I thought Chronica was still in space. Looks like she's making this personal.

Eyyy! Milly's awake!

And here she and Meryl are both just worrying about Vash. Love them.

Chronica's got an impressive gun aimed at Knives' face there.

Ooooohhh, Legato and Vash are gonna have opinions on this... especially if it's successful.

What, he just blocked it? Hax.

Love the birdcage imagery for Legato here.

Ah, Legato.... This isn't even him seeking revenge. This is him seeking justice. He doesn't want them to pay. He wants them to experience what he himself experienced at their hands so they know. Gonna be honest, I can't fault him for this, even knowing that there were probably plenty among those who "stood by and did nothing" who lacked the power to do anything even if they were even aware of the problem.

Ugh, gut wounds hurt so bad, too....

Ok, so this guy's a monster, but for as unrealistic as it is, I love that you can tell so much about him simply by his character design. First, he's someone in power. Money... authority... probably both. He stands on a rich carpet in a fine suit with (what I can only assume is) a trendy hat while Legato is spread out naked, vulnerable, humiliated. Second, for all his power, he's a small man. It's a bit of... height-ism, I guess? Nightow is using it to show that regardless of what else this man has, he's not actually someone who's worth looking up to. And third, he's just... kinda gross. His proportions are distorted and weird with demon eyes and sex doll mouth and he just gives me creep vibes just looking at him.

Ugh, this is a common thing with abusers, though. They can get caught up in this sort of self-delusion that whatever they're doing is right and good, that their victims benefit from it or like it or even love it despite ALL signs to the contrary. And having ANY clear sign that, no, their action was NOT acceptable, any action from their victim that even has the possibility of allowing the victim to go free, to leave the abuser's "kindness," is seen as complete and utter betrayal. And then, after suitable punishment has been meted out, they may "forgive" the victim by allowing them to fall back into the abuse cycle... often while occasionally bringing up the failed escape attempt to excuse more extreme behavior toward the victim or to demoralize their victim and keep them in place.

Of course this guy would be turned on by the possibility of getting to punish Legato.

Legato's such a little guy here, too...

Yeah, there's no way something like that happening at such a moment wouldn't seem like an act of god to him. Nevermind that it was probably pure chance and the horrible, unnatural pose he was forced into that saved him.

Yeah, I don't blame him for this, either.

Ah, Knives really didn't intend this.

Legato really piqued Knives' curiosity here, first by surviving, second by daring to approach him, and third by not showing the least bit of concern that Knives might lob his head off in an instant, and instead asking to serve him.

I really can't get over how small he is here. Even if he was the type to take a bit to fill out, he doesn't look older than 15 here... and that's being generous.

Honestly, living one's whole life (or the vast majority of it) the way Legato did would leave little space for hopes and dreams to grow. It's hard to have even the smallest ambitions when all you've ever known is what it is to be an object used by others.

Heh, he finally smiles, and it's at the thought that it's all going to end.

I wonder what about this made Knives stay his hand. It's not simple respect for Legato's power. Perhaps he sees some measure of himself (or even Vash) in Legato here, in that time after they found Tesla and everything seemed meaningless and they just wanted it all to end.

Man, they didn't even see fit to give him a name. He was just a toy to them. Makes me sick.

In retrospect, implying I was looking forward to this chapter seems like a bit of a disservice to it. I had enough spoilers to know how dark it would get, but it's different reading it. I... still don't think it excuses a lot of what he does. But it does make me wish all the more that he'd had opportunities to know good people. If it had been Vash who had saved him instead of Knives... or even Wolfwood or the Eye of Michael... his life would be so very different, and probably for the better. He deserves better than he's ever got. He's endured enough.

Archive

Trigun Vol. 1: Covers + 1-3, 4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10 || Vol. 2: Covers + Extras, 1, 2-4, 5-6, 7-8

TriMax Vol. 1: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 2: Covers + 1, 2-4, 5, 6-7 || Vol. 3: Covers + 1-3, 4-5, 6-7 || Vol. 4: Covers + 1-2, 3-5, 6-7 || Vol. 5: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 6: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 7: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 8: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5 + Bonus || Vol. 9: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 10: Covers + 1-3, 4-5, 6-8 || Vol. 11: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 12: Covers + 1-3, 4-6

Extra Credit: Trigun Vol. 1: Nebraska vs. Vash's Motivations, Vash's Loneliness, Vash's Depression (pt. 2 of post), Soupy Brains || Vol. 2: Coin Factoids || TriMax Vol. 1: Lina, Vash, and a Haircut || Meryl, Vash, and the Pursuit of Happiness || Vol. 5: Knives, Vash, and Hatred for Humanity || Vol. 6: Coping Series: Wolfwood, Meryl, Vash || Vol. 8: The Uncoordinated Counterattack || Vol. 9: Justice, Punishment, and Mercy, The Tolling of an Iron Bell || Vol. 10: Crucifixion Symbology (pt. 2 of post), Merging of Families, Being Childlike (And Why God Hates Chapel) || Vol. 11: New Hair, New Outlook

[ayyydra]

Tagged by @hakhub to do this! Thank you! ❤️ Its been a while since I've done one of these!

last song: si no le contesto (slowed) - plan b

been on a huge reggaetón kick and the translations of some of these songs have been fueling my ship fics... the translations are uh... quite something -sweats-

currently watching: Well, I haven't had much time to watch something, but the last thing I watched was the Jujutsu Kaisen movie! I’ve been rewatching Trigun here and there too. Should really watch the first episode of S2 of JJK…

currently reading: Trigun Maximum, Volume 8 :' )

currently playing: nothing at the moment, but the last game I played was Final Fantasy XIV!

current obsession: Trigun/Trigun Stampede! Been having a lot of fun in this space, and I am in awe of the lovely art and writing that has come out of it... Wolfwood with body hair and a darker complexion? Fuck yes. Holy shit. That man has a chokehold on me. His pop vinyl sits on my car dashboard.

Yes I am also very much in love with Vash too and his pop vinyl stays at home under house arrest, as he should. It is too dangerous for him to go outside.

I also have an EoM OC in the works and have her written information completed! Currently working on a drawn reference of her and her gun lance! :3

Also, Trimax is fucking killing me. I am SUFFERING.

Tagging: Anyone who sees this that would like to do this! But I will tag a few people... @jelly-doughnut-drabbles @hazmatas @takoush @tyrfanged @auropenumbra (you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to!)

[radioactivecatboy]

🗣️ 📝

hello eulie my beloved friend eulie. cracks my knuckles.

🗣 talk about your favorite WIP:

okay this is a hard one actually bc i actively have approximately 178 million wips going on at any given moment bc i have thoughts and ideas and opinions Always and Forever. i'll be popping out of the ground at my funeral with a finger raised to say "and another thing!" but i think . i will talk abt my good beloved close personal friend "nicholas d. wolfwood's guide to making the most of second chances" which i have talked to you extensively about but by fucking god. i will do it again.

so this is a fic i've been working on for uhhhhh. idk whenever it was that i finished trimax. couple months at least. it's about wolfwood literally clawing his way out of his grave a couple weeks after being buried, and having a really normal and fine time about it. it's very much focused on wolfwood and him trying to learn how to be a person and not a weapon, about him being loved with the blood on his hands, being held and soothed and treated like a child again because he lost so much time after going with eom. there's a lot of like, scrabbling for normalcy in a time of upheaval, what with the earth federation being there and knives no longer being a threat to him personally or the planet itself. it's also about me hitting him with the chronic pain beam and giving him a cane. bc i love to project <3

📝 share a snippet of an unposted wip, with or without context

here's a snippet of said fic <3. enjoy. content warning for uh, bugs and paranoia and also panic attack. um gore? oh also vomiting. sorry. also it's long bc i just enjoy this bit. it sucks so bad <3333

Consumed by thoughts of getting rid of the vile taste in his mouth, he turns the corner into the bathroom and jolts in shock at the sight of someone else already there. Oh. It’s not another person. It’s him.  Wolfwood stares at his reflection like it’s a predator he needs to be prepared to field an attack from, something venomous and hungry with slitted eyes and cold, scaly skin. But it’s not. It’s just him.  He looks like shit. His clothes are riddled with bullet holes and stained brown with dried, dead blood, stiff with it. They’re coming apart at the seams, too, like something was having a nibble while he slept under the sand. The thought makes his stomach roil and the image keeps building on itself. His flesh decaying, burrowed into, turned into the home of flies and maggots, being made food and cradle both— He collapses on his knees and vomits, nothing coming up but stomach acid because the last time he ate was before he fucking died. He stays like that a long time, bent over and shivering, gagging occasionally when a new image enters his mind, each one more terrible than the last. By the time he can sit up again he’s clawing at his clothes before he can process what he’s doing, knowing only that he needs to see his skin, measure the damage, find out what was consuming his body while he wasn’t in it, certain beyond certain he’s going to be a mess of tattered flesh and exposed bone. Fabric finally gives way and— Smooth skin greets him, touched only by hair and dry blood, and that was there before he died. He paws at it, running frantic, confused hands over it, twisting to inspect himself, touching at where he can’t see. It’s all smooth. There’s no white, writhing pockets of spilling maggots or beetles skittering between holes in him to root around in his organs. There’s no gaping wounds or flashes of chalky bone. There’s not even any scars. 

thank you for asking eulie <333333

[gnomebud]

talk 2 me about milly the stampede blease

(continued from here)

you have enabled me and now i am going to ramble instead of doing my computer science homework, which is very youcore i think <3

ok this whole au was inspired by fanart but i do think. there are very interesting similarities between milly and vash that make this swap very fun to me! vash, especially in tristamp, obviously has this whole "goofy harmless naive" schtick going on to make himself as sort of personable and seemingly-harmless as possible. obviously vash also is a goofball but he primarily has an image he is maintaining! milly isn't ever putting up a facade in the same way imo but she does get treated as "naive simple silly" in the same way by... fandom, partly (segue to say i am in the trigun ao3 tags daily because. i don't know. and there are an abysmal number of fics that are just casually misogynistic and ableist about milly even when she's just a side character), and also i think '98 is to blame for a lot of it. and milly is silly! she's a goofy sweetheart who is constantly ordering a very complicated french pastry and tea from bars! but she is also so clever and emotionally intelligent and so so brave. and while she isn't presenting an image in the same way, she is very aware of other people's perception of her -- in trimax she has to threaten to shoot wolfwood to get to rescue meryl with them because he won't take her seriously.

anyways. milly the stampede au draws a lot on that -- the perception of milly by other characters and how she is aware of that and can potentially use it in the same way vash does. milly is also a Lot more open (and emotionally intelligent. i think); her scars are a lot more internal than vash's are. we also know that, like vash, family means a lot to her; she has an absurd number of siblings. (eulie who's knives in this au?? don't worry about it. i don't know. maybe knives is milly's sibling now too.) other parallels include the fact that her massive gun is a stun gun, even though obviously that thing could and probably does kill people. she also is super super strong (literally)! there are a few bits in trimax where characters comment on how huge her stun gun is and i think it's partly a "wow a woman carries that" thing but there's also some moments where it's just like "that thing is fucking massive how does anyone use it". go milly go!

also central to this au is meryl the punisher :) meryl often gets the role of "having the braincell" but i don't think she has it at all (milly does, if it has to be one of them). she's very smart and determined and knows her shit but meryl bottles up how much she cares a lot -- she's the iron lady! she deals with a lot of internal conflict about her role in the world, and also has some internal conflict about family, like wolfwood. in this au i have her getting taken by the eye of michael from university, so later on than ww, and probably did not undergo the age-up that he did (although i do think meryl is probably a "went to college early" guy and was probably still young when EoM took her). it's a very caleb critrole origin story of getting to go somewhere special because of your talents and then that getting used against you -- her pre-EoM/early-EoM (before she knows what they are/what they're doing) is very inspired by tristamp s1 meryl and how determined and eager to prove herself in the world she is, even at the cost of her own safety. also in parallels to wolfwood i think having a cape filled with 50 tiny handguns is almost exactly as absurd as having a cross that is secretly a machine gun

vash and wolfwood are reporters in this because it's my favorite change that tristamp made and because i tried to imagine wolfwood willingly being an insurance agent and couldn't. i could see him being a begrudging roberto-type reporter, though, and vash is the tristamp-meryl "we have to help!" optimist. they both have their canon-typical issues. vash is too self-sacrificing and wolfwood is still kind of a feral kitten. vash looks at milly and meryl and goes "i can fix them!" and wolfwood goes "absolutely the fuck not you can't" and then catches feelings anyway. i think i said all this in the other post but i don't care. in trimax there is a recurring thing of meryl and wolfwood being slightly afraid of vash for different reasons -- it would be the same here but with milly. meryl's afraid of everything that's hiding under all of her sweetheartedness, and what has to happen to her for her to not be sweet, and wolfwood's just disconcerted by everything about her. vash loves her immediately of course because he's vash :]

i said this in the other post too but merylmilly having the bonkers fandom vashwood dynamic is so important to me. meryl would not handle having wolfwood's role of betrayal well. milly would get hurt so much more visibly. this whole AU hurts me

(sort of from the WIP asks?)

[revenantghost]

HI sorry to dm you out of the blue but i tried posting my post on WEDNESDAY MORNING and the first time i deleted it after 12 hours of it being up and still not in the tag, my second attempt is still on my blog because i sent support a ticket about it (i deleted the book club tag off it tho), my third attempt, which is what's in the tag, was literally me copypasting the html into notepad, making a mostly blank post, adding the og post piecemeal, and seeing if it disappeared from the tag or not. it seems there were a few specific images that were the problem, two of which i deleted and the third of which i just used a different crop of the page and it worked. i don't know WHY those images were a problem but hopefully support will shed some light on it if they get back to me?? i saw you had trouble with your vashwood post so i wonder if other bookclubbers are having the same issue and i'm afraid i'm missing posts because of it v_v

also re: your other tags YEA i agree abt the DID rep, i'm familiar with it bc i used to be close to someone who has it, i dont see it a lot in media to begin with but i've DEF seen worse from media that's much more recent than trigun lmao. also- yes razlo is there in the scene but my question is more abt his /degree/ of involvement like. did he convince livio to join eom/plant the idea in his head/tell him ww was there/etc... because "wanting to follow ww" as a motivation def comes from livio not razlo.. IF that even makes sense sorry i am half asleep rn. ALSOOO PLEASE DONT APOLOGIZE FOR THE RAMBLING OMG.. i love your tags sm and look forward to seeing them on my posts!! i love the rambling it's delightful.. i should be the one apologizing for sending a wall of text in your askbox LOL

Oh man, no worries! Yeah I had the same thing happen with this post, to the point that I had to eventually remake it without any images (which were kinda core to the post, thanks Tumblr!!!) and for some reason that worked??? I even reworded the whole thing multiple times, but nothing! So I'm gonna tag this as bookclub so it shows up and folks know that the tag is being stupid from time to time. This is also happening to posts in the "Trigun" tag and search function, and someone I know had an issue with blocking the other day, so I think Tumblr's probably fucking with the code

Seriously, kudos to Nightow for writing this in the early 2000's (when I assume this volume was probably initially published as chapters in its magazine) and doing better rep than every single horror movie out there. Even if it's magical fantasy grow-a-third-arm DID, it's so much better than most rep :')

OHHHHH I see what you mean!!! That's definitely the angle that Tristamp seems to be leaning toward, but it would be VERY interesting if Trimax Razlo hunted down big brother Nico and wanted Livio to join him. That's obviously pure headcanon, but I think I'll tuck that nicely into my own personal headcanons

ASKJNALSKJ OH THANK GOD, I don't always have the spoons for rambling BUT WHEN I DO... BOY I GO OFF. So it's nice to hear it's not annoying :'D And you're totally fine yourself, no worries!!! <3

[guideaus]

did wolfwood think he killed the chapel guy before he ran away or 🤨??

[hikennosabo]

trimax vol 9 random thoughts

sorry if you saw this post disappear and reappear in the tag multiple times, i was fighting for my life much like wolfwood using trial and error trying to get it to even show up in the tag because tumblr is a functional website and not fucky in the slightest. </3

i wrote this post extremely sleep deprived 2 days ago let's GOOOOO

also heads up for potential spoilers for tristamp since i talk about it a little. even though i spoiled 98 untagged in my last post. sorry about that

chapter 1:

someone in the book club tag (don't remember who it was, sorry) said something about sharing food being a love language for wolfwood... :') wah...

^_^

why is this thing even on the building in the first place. and for that matter how did the dog even GET up there...... whatever

hi razlo. i don't know where to say this in the post so i'll just say now i unintentionally spoiled myself on razlo's identity because i was googling when i shouldn't have been. all totally my fault LOL [anime girl bleh gif]

the boy didn't even have the decency to wash the blood off his hands. kid, please, you're not doing livio any favors here.

livio manspreading on the couch... chapel, have you considered there's another reason why livio's breathing might be "irregular" as he helps you take his former home hostage? hmmm?

^ FUNNIEST PIECE OF DIALOGUE IN THE WHOLE VOLUME

thank god for livio, this guy was doing a speedrun on being the most annoying one-off minor villain--WAIT is he kicking him with his hands in his pockets? that's SO funny. i'm liking livio more and more.

chapter 2:

"he shouldn't be that old" <- the kids would be expecting wolfwood to be, hmmm, in his early 20s, thereabouts? ww looks around a decade older than that...

he's giving... something here. it's the combo of the glasses and all-white outfit i think. the y2k fashion vibe.

who is saying this? livio? razlo? both? chapel, since he was the one just talking? also, nice visual metaphor!

this is obviously NOT the reason wolfwood spared these guys, but this is reminding me of when oda said that luffy doesn't kill his opponents because shattering their dreams is worse than death. LOL

also i am convinced nightow drew this chapter for the sole purpose of making wolfwood do cool shit on his motorcycle.

that being said, all the cool shit wolfwood does is immediately overshadowed by livio CATCHING A BOMB IN MIDAIR AND THROWING IT BACK AT THE GUY WHO SHOT IT. stampede livio could never do this, he's too skinny

chapter 3:

people have already said stuff about this page, but I Also Want To Say Stuff. the wispiness of the smoke, livio's hair blowing in the wind... it feels very much like the calm before the storm, simultaneously serene and tense. and i LOVE how wolfwood is shaded in grey, while livio is the one shaded in black. fantastic contrast and composition, i adore it.

why is this razlo's first note to livio. "!" like...?! you're letting livio know you exist, but giving literally no other information like at all? okay. razlo's a bit of an oddball, to put it mildly.

the rest of his letters are... well they're not "normal," i guess, and not any less cryptic, but they are kinda sweet in their own way.

knowing who razlo is i love the way his introduction scene is presented. livio is keeping information from ww and from the reader, so it's both literal and not. also razlo is appropriately unsettling, i wish he would stop... unhinging his jaw like that.

...also who tf told him about EoM?! this is a difference with stampede... stamp!livio joined EoM because he wanted to follow wolfwood. no razlo involved in the decision-making, as far as we know. compared to here in the manga, livio left the orphanage on his own, so there isn't really a clear timeline on when ww joined EoM vs when livio did. we don't even know if he knew ww was in EoM at all.

also upon rewatching this scene for this post i got distracted by legato's lack of ass and had to pause because i was laughing too much

the guy is literally flat as a board help

*cough* anyway. razlo is only alluded to and never named or even really shown, except for a very brief very blurry reflection, so his level of involvement in... literally everything is unknown.

speaking of characters who are weirdly absent, chapel isn't around either...? i thought maybe they combined his character with conrad, but he DOES speak in livio's memory, i even checked the credits for his seiyuu. (hiroshi naka - he voices a lot of old men but most notably garp from one piece!) i don't really know how his role in all this has changed, if at all, since conrad seems to be the one in charge of the experiments...? and i really... do not like what they did with conrad in stampede, he went from being shitty but having nuance to just being extra shitty... okay, tangent over.

oh, this fight is so WEIGHTY!! i love it!! they gave a lot of weight and physicality to the livio vs ww fight in stampede too, (and all the fights, for that matter), despite stamp!livio's loss of bulk... it's a really fun fight to watch!

chapter 4:

OHHH..... okay.... soooooo.... this means he's coming back in stampede season 2 i assume?

not to go off on another tangent but this is the second time this has happened to me... i went into stampede more or less blind (oh how things change) and so when knives died at the end of the season I HAD NO REASON TO BELIEVE HE WASN'T DEAD... but then i saw people talking like he would come back in season 2 and i was like, "how?? he DIED" and then i read the manga and i was like oh. and now with livio too. i thought he served his narrative purpose and then died. and he shot himself through the head, which is notable because that's how ww killed monev who was ALSO a subject of EoM's experiments in the tristamp universe!! so i had no reason to believe he wasn't dead!!

i dont have that much to say about this chapter because it mostly consists of the fight, but OH what a fight it is...!! i know i should be rooting for wolfwood, and i am, but livio is just so COOL in this fight. they're both cool...!!!

also, how many little glass vials(tm) does wolfwood have?! honestly, it's amazing that he still has any at all left to drink, it's a wonder they haven't all shattered already with how much he's been thrown around. especially because the one he drinks from CRACKS when it hits the ground... these vials aren't exactly bulletproof, lol.

THE HUG...?! UUUEEEEAAHGHGHHGH

MESSAGE TO ALL BITCHES ughhh ww looks so pained here. when he told vash that his blood runs cold when he points his gun at livio... he's feeling that through this whole volume. man.

something about brothers fighting each other... vash and knives, wolfwood and livio... uagh.

chapter 5:

HEY CAN WE KILL CHAPEL ALREADY??

oh, the punisher is taller than him... i was trying to get an approximation of relative character heights recently, and i saw somewhere that the punisher is 5'7, the same height as me...

also, 10 punishers, huh... wolfwood's is one, razlo has three... does chapel's count even though it has a different design...? do livio's handguns count? will we see the others? is there even a significance to the number...?

oh great, is this another wolfwood death flag?! we haven't seen him drink THAT many of them so far but still. hope chapel keels over already. i know ww's making an effort not to kill people but can he please just shoot chapel in the head. also wolfwood's pose in that panel... he's kinda serving cunt

OH, THIS SPREAD FUCKS!!!! once again the CONTRAST... THE STARK BLACK AND WHITE... SO COOL!!!

so these guys work for razlo specifically, i assume? not livio? also... just who are they? random EoM goons?? why are they so loyal to razzy???

and he has a mechanical third arm. somehow. sure okay

^ um... trigun lol [roll credits]

oh, it's tri-p as in tri-punisher. i thought it was the word "trip" and didn't question it. ...although "trip" could still work.

--also, wait, hold on, upon rereading i noticed razlo's left ear is covered up (by... something) and it's making his head shape look uncanny (more like a skull?!) and now i have to scroll back through the previous chapters to see if livio has ears. [several minutes of scrolling later] okay, he DOES have a right ear. okay. another pointless diversion for this post

chapter 6:

razlo was a real one for killing livio's shitty parents!

also another thing i'm noticing! razlo opens his mouth pretty wide, while livio doesn't open his mouth much at all... i mean okay there are a ton of differences in physicality between the two of them, but that one in particular stands out to me because last volume i complained that i couldn't tell when livio was talking because he never opens his mouth LOL

spraying wolfwood with blood and guts is a fucking wild battle tactic bro. also i'm convinced that nightow gave razlo three punishers for the cool factor first and foremost. three crosses also brings the scene of jesus's crucifixion to mind... but nahhhh it's definitely the cool factor. unless...?

"killing and violence! killing and violence! :D"

ALSO CAN CHAPEL DIE ALREADYYYY PLEASE

VASH MENTIONED!!! i'm so caught up in wolfwood's story rn that i haven't even really thought about the fact that vash isn't present in this volume at all... and then it evolves into a fucking. memory montage. stop with the montage please that's another death flag

and... oh man... wolfwood getting back up to fight because he's thinking of vash... and last volume vash said wolfwood is his reason to fight... both of them staring death in the face and thinking of each other... oh my god. ohhhh my fucking god. oh my fuckign god you guys. VASHWOOD.

oh, looks like i lied when i said vash isn't in this volume, he's right here

...and that ends that volume. i said more than i thought i would... sorry for the rambles and tangents, i wrote this post running on about 3 hours of sleep lol. time for something lighter as i await next week's volume, let me continue to rewatch the 98 anime... what episode was i up to... ahh... 22, huh...

[pancake-breakfast]

We're already to volume 8? *incoming trauma panic intensifies*

Stream-of-consciousness thoughts for TriMax Vol. 8, Chapters 1-2 below.

TriMax Volume 8 Covers

Goshdarnit, that bird-man better not be losing his prosthetic again. Those things can't be easy to come by.

LOL, he looks so serene in the fake cover. I'm guessing he supposedly dramatically threw the rose, but I just wanna think Wolfwood is wearing a tiny rose on top of that overblown mane Nightow gave him here. They're definitely shojo characters now.

Knives, just kinda... peeking nto the back cover there.

Is it just me or did Meryl and Milly grow their hair out a bit again?

LOL, Legato getting eaten by a fish on the back cover. He deserves it.

Ooh, a spinoff chapter? I'm down.

Also, someone needs to update Kuroneko's flea meds, I think. She's scratching a lot. Do they have fleas on this planet? I imagine they're just more worms.

Chapter 1: Invasion

Oh, Nightow, with your angled horizon lines....

This guy with the beard reminds me of a badger for some reason.

Uhhhh... what's happening here? Is this the arc taking off?

But... like... wasn't the arc (and where they met Knives and all) somewhere deep in Eye of Michael territoriy?

I wonder who's invading what?

LOL, Vash wakes up and just... goes about doing his routines, I see. Not gonna let the whole LACK OF AN ARM stop him.

Oh, shit, no. It's Legato doing this. That's bad. That's very, very bad.

Thanks to Vash? Thanks to Vash?! Vash wasn't the one who crashed all the humans into a desolate planet, forcing the humans to rely even more heavily on Plants than they likely planned to. Vash isn't the one who murdered a bunch of Plants in that same Fall. Vash isn't the one assimilating them into part of his being with no thought for whether or not it's their will.

THAT'S RIGHT, VASH. YOU TELL HIM. STAND UP FOR YOURSELF, BABYGIRL!!!

Ohhh, that looks painful. Legato didn't care for Vash's line of talk, I guess.

And Knives, great brother that he is, allows it. Because Vash needs to be punished until he understands Knives' point of view, apparently. 'Cause that's how that works.

Wolfwood, buddy, you look like you need some serious shut-eye.

Knives says this is a war, but he's framing it like it's just gonna be a massacre of his own design. And he's way too happy about it.

What's this Federation now?

Oh, that's bad news for them. That looks like... Wolfwood, Livio, and the other guy who's name I can nemver remember. Although I'll honestly be a bit surprised if it's Wolfwood and not just some EoM rando. Can't imagine Wolfwood's gonna be quick to make friends with Wheelchair Guy again anytime soon.

Ah, no. It's Wolfwood. This could get interesting.

*sigh* Wolfwood...

This all flies in the face of everything Wolfwood's learned about himself fighting alongside Vash, and Wolfwood knows it. The real question is, now that he doesn't have Vash at his back, what's he going to do with that knowledge? We just saw him choose to distract rather than kill with his weaponry, but how long will that last now that he's back in the clutches of EoM?

Oh, honey. There's nothing convenient about what's going through Wolfwood's head right now. Nightow hasn't given is the slightest glimpse of it, but... you can just tell. His poise, his look, and his choice not to just murder-death those guys is plenty to show he's at a crossroads. He's fought to get here, and he knows there will nasty consequences regardless of which path he chooses.

Ugh, Livio's making his move first.

Bonus points to Stampede for adapting Livio's guns well.

Wolfwood is not happy about this.

"There are times where life is harder than death, and that time has just begun." Foreshadowing much?

Oooh, look at all them plants just... watching.

Vash looks so desperate and so sad here. He just wants his brother to listen.

And, of course, Knives just dismisses him. Because Knives.

Knives isn't entirely wrong. He's overlooking that there are ways he and Vash could probably mitigate this if they worked together instead of Knives being so genocide-happy that Vash basically has to dedicate all his life to mitigating that, but yeah.

Two wrongs don't make a right, Knives. You're also punishing a lot of people for things they may or may not have done, and may or may not have been content accepting, especially if another way presented itself.

Ohhh, that looks like Vash breaking free of Livio's control for a moment.

Vash spitting truth here.

Gods, I'm so proud of him. Seems like he couldn't keep the presence of self the last few times he ran into Knives to say stuff like this. Then again, Knives was too dedicated to setting off his angel arm to really listen much, so that might have something to do with it. Now that Knives has prioritized Vash NOT setting off his arm, he has to hear Vash say stuff.

I wonder if Nightow regretted giving Vash so many scars at this point where he suddenly has to draw them again and again for several pages?

GG twisting Vash's words there to avoid actually looking at your own issues, Knives. A+ avoidance skills.

Chapter 2: Silent Ruin

CW: Body horror, reference to chattel slavery

Livio's going full 80's goth here, isn't he.

Crybaby Livio!

Oooh, old man struck a nerve. Not good. Wolfwood's shit at hiding his feelings.

Ah, there we go. The orphanage isn't aware that their numbers are harvested as Eye of Michael recruits. I... could say a lot on a religious group grooming its children to become ideal soldiers, but one only really has to look at the correlation between the U.S. Military and the U.S. Bible Belt to get the gist of it.

Livio cannot betray this guy? That's strong words. It sounds like Livio was built up to "succeed" where Wolfwood "failed."

Ah, we have another player on the field.

Ok, who's saying this? I have no idea who's saying this. Is it Livio? Is it Wolfwood? Maybe one of the others present in this scene?

Knives, what the hell are you swan diving off to do?

Ohhh, here we go with Knives stealing the plants. Stampede really bumped this element up in the timeline.

Oof, these people have been dead for a bit. No worries; in a place like that, they'll likely mummify before they rot too bad. Kinda like a peat bog but dry.

I hope Knives has a good tank to keep all these plants in and isn't, say, stuffing them all in his arm like a madman.

Oh, would you look at that. He's STUFFING THEM ALL IN HIS ARM LIKE A MADMAN. Dammit, Knives.

From what I gather, impalement is a very painful way to die. You usually go from exposure rather than bleeding out unless some kind soul pulls you free.

Oh, ok, Knives is also shoving them all into some sort of mass tank where they're crammed together like.... Is this supposed to call to mind images of slave ships back when they were a major import to the Americas? Because that's the vibe I'm getting. I really don't know how this could be more comfortable for them than their bulbs.

Yeah, somehow I don't think their warheads are gonna be much of a match for Elandira.

Vash is not having a good... week? I guess it's been a while now. Legato's having a time of it, too, since I'm sure Vash is fighting him quite a bit.

Wolfwood is also not having a good whatever.

Did... did Knives really succeed?

Seven months???

Oh, this has to be our girls.

Yeah! And Luida, too! They look a little worn, but no worse for the wear.

Archive

Trigun Vol. 1: Covers + 1-3, 4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10 || Vol. 2: Covers + Extras, 1, 2-4, 5-6, 7-8

TriMax Vol. 1: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 2: Covers + 1, 2-4, 5, 6-7 || Vol. 3: Covers + 1-3, 4-5, 6-7 || Vol. 4: Covers + 1-2, 3-5, 6-7 || Vol. 5: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 6: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 7: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6

Extra Credit: Trigun Vol. 1: Nebraska vs. Vash's Motivations, Vash's Loneliness, Vash's Depression (pt 2 of post), Soupy Brains || Vol. 2: Coin Factoids || TriMax Vol. 1: Lina, Vash, and a Haircut || Meryl, Vash, and the Pursuit of Happiness || Vol. 5: Knives, Vash, and Hatred for Humanity || Vol. 6: Coping Series: Wolfwood, Meryl, Vash

[ayyydra]

Need (Simwood)

A/N: Felt like writing some fluff/angst with Wolfwood and my Trigun O.C, Simela Simeonidis (A fellow EoM agent). She tries to get him to voice his needs since he's been putting the needs of others above his own, almost his entire life. Trimax & 1998 Anime coded Wolfwood. Tags: Friends to Lovers, Childhood Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Nicholas D. Wolfwood is shocking at voicing his own needs so Simela is here to help him out, just two EoM agents wanting to live a happy life together, Hinted smut but it's not happening. Word count: 1217. Ao3 Link Trigun Fic Masterlist Divider credit: cafekistune

He was completely under her spell and utterly bewitched by her.

There she was, naked and sitting in his lap - in their post-coital afterglow - her thumbs gently running themselves over his cheeks as Simela tenderly held Nicholas' face. Her golden eyes gazed down into Nicholas' dark blue eyes, her own filled with so much love and adoration for him. The way Simela looked at him made him almost feel shy, like a giddy little boy falling in love all over again, her gaze making his heart flutter and skip a beat. He felt like the luckiest man alive having a woman as loving, caring, and understanding as Simela.

“What do you want from me, baby? What do you need? I’m right here.” Simela cooed, her long black hair cascading down and forming a curtain around his face. She smiled down at Nicholas, her calloused yet delicate fingers combing through his black hair and smoothing it back so that she could see all of him. A few stray black locks of his hair slipped from her gentle grip to frame his face.

“I want… I need… I…”

Nicholas stuttered, searching her eyes for an answer. He was speechless, it was as if her gaze turned him to stone and robbed him the ability to form a coherent response. He had never been asked out aloud what he wanted and what he needed, nor did he even think to voice it to anyone - not even Simela.

For the last few hours, he had happily been busy attending to her needs, showering her with the utmost love, affection and pleasure. The only thing he concerned himself with, was her release and pleasure, how many times he could bring her to such a euphoric high. It brought him such great satisfaction to know that his hands could pry such wonderful sighs and moans of pleasure from her, smiling whenever her body would oh-so-easily lean into his touch and beg for more.

Though, not only could his hands bring her such great pleasure, but they also had the ability to pull her into a secure embrace to keep her safe and to protect her; to comfort her, to look after and take care of her. The same hands he used to wield the punisher could hold her close after a nightmare to comfort her, greet her in the morning in the form of a gentle touch that followed up with a kiss and a cuddle. They could rub her back or shoulders after a long day, or just merely hold her hands.

Knowing and feeling that all of him could bring great comfort and stability to Simela was enough. He could do good for both the children at the orphanage, and for the woman he loved. Knowing that made him feel over the moon. It turned out that he did have the ability to protect that of which he held so dear to his heart.

"But what about you, Nick?! Have you ever voiced your needs?! Why don’t you ever voice them to me? To anyone? It’s okay to ask for something in return, you know…”

He recalled the countless small arguments he and Simela had about him not being vocally open about his needs. Nicholas never asked for affection from Simela outright, but did it in a non-verbal, physical manner. Very often, he would bunt his head into her hands, weasel himself into her lap, wrap an arm around her shoulders or waist and hold her close, cup her face in his hands, or even hug her from behind. He didn’t feel the need to ask anything from Simela. She just knew what Nicholas wanted from his gestures alone, and that was one of the many things he loved about her. He didn’t have to say anything because the mutual understanding was already there.

After all, actions spoke louder than words, right?   But how could he even begin to express himself in words? He wanted to give her the world and have a future with her. That’s if he was deserving of one with her of course. 

He pictured their future together in his head multiple times. The two of them, settling down in a quaint home or apartment in a small town with some children running around, living a peaceful, happy life together, taking good care of both her and the kids. Perhaps he would look into living off the land as a new profession, with Simela opening a bakery like she had always wanted and continuing in her late mother’s footsteps.

Ahhh, but what about the children and Miss Melanie at the orphanage? Perhaps he and Simela could continue to work together to protect the orphanage, and surely she would have no issues doing that and helping him out. After all, she came from Hopeland just like he did, and she supported any ideas he had in helping and protecting the orphanage and helping out with the kids or Miss Melanie where she could. With her around, it meant that he would be free of the dreams he had blood on his hands.

Most importantly, they would finally be free from the shackles of the Eye of Michael. Free from the burden that weighed heavily on their shoulders in their current professions. Free to roam Gunsmoke with or without any prospective children as they pleased. Free to heal from their shared pain and trauma together in each other’s warm embrace.

And heck, if Lady Luck was kind enough to him, perhaps he would even get the opportunity to ask her to- “Nico?” She called to him, her voice snapping Nicholas out of his thoughts.

“Mmm?”

"Sooo… Have you thought about it?" She asked, chuckling as she ran a thumb over his cheek.

“Mmm… Yeah. I… I want you to hold me and kiss me.” He said, giving the flesh on her hip a gentle squeeze. There was an element of assertiveness to his voice which seemed to make her smile.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

He then closed his eyes, soon feeling Simela’s hands cup his face. Her lips first pressing themselves against his forehead before leaving a trail of soft kisses down from the bridge of his nose to his lips. At first, she pressed a soft, shy peck to his lips before pulling him into a string of deeper kisses. Her tongue then gently swiped his bottom lip, to which he gladly parted his mouth and allowed her to explore; tasting the light mastic from her cigarettes when their tongues met. The earthy sweetness of her taste left him wanting more and more, causing him to become breathless no matter how much she breathed in to his kisses.  

"Simela... There’s something else… I need..." He asked between breathless kisses.

"Hmm?” She pulled away from his lips with a soft pop, leaving them to softly brush against his lips as she spoke. “And what would that be, baby?" she purred.

"You." He breathed, smiling as he rubbed his stubbly cheek against hers and pushed her down onto the bed; peppering her face with kisses.

Simela laughed as she fell back onto the bed, nuzzling into his kisses while wrapping her arms around him. "Aww, it's okay, Nicholas. You already have me, I'm here and always will be. Just for you, baby~”