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Maybe just pictures of unfurled Plants, chilling in their bulbs (facial expressions and all) and words in spiky word-balloons denothing thought / other way of speaking. Different panels going to different Plants. Maybe cut-scenes to "shouty human males" and it's Steve from the '90s anime. Hmmmm. It's...somewhere on my blog, but I once got into a conversation with someone who theorized / joked that "What if Vash and Knives were born to help humans shore up their population? Like, the Plants thought we'd survive better if there was some hybridization with them, but their efforts were in vain because Knives doesn't want to touch those icky humans and Vash is too traumatized for romance?" It ended with me offering to draw (but I never got around to it), a picture of '98 Vash on a Gunsmoke talk-show, like Maury Povich or Jerry Springer surrounded by scores of women of various ages (including severely geriatric), blond children and adults of various ages and a Meryl ready to kill him - being slapped with 100+ paternity suits at once! (Featuring one of the Bad Lads holding up a sign protesting getting a Plant venereal disease).

So, I came across a tumblr post that brought to mind one UNPOPULAR headcanon of mine. I sometimes feel like I'm the only person in Modern Trigun Fandom who headcanons Vash as cis-gendered, or at least something "close-enough." Almost every fanfic I see and many, many fanarts that are a little more of the nudery variety will give him mastectomy scars (on top of the stuff he already has), a "plantussy" as the common tongue goes, the tag "vash the stampede has a vagina" and etc. And I'm sitting here, in my lonely world remembering the 2000's fandom where people loved joking about Vash's "fourth gun." Anyway, I have my reasons for my headcanon. The first one is "I just don't think Nightow was thinking about it." - It was a '90s manga. Any trans characters in those tended to be rather prominent. In Trigun Maximum, Elendira the Crimsonnail was explicitly trans. Zazie had their body-surfing between human hosts of both male and female variety and can't really be said to have a gender known to human understanding. I think there were probably some background-characters, too that I can't pick out off the top of my head. And it's like... Vash was just a guy? The second one is that he is shown (manga and OG anime), peeing at a urinal. He goes standing up. This is not exclusive to cis-men by any means, it just seems the easiest track to take given the above. And then there's my more hopefully tumblr-acceptable reason. I have a personal cis-headcanon for story-related angst reasons, which I've shared on this blog before. Click for ANGST!

I have, up until now, been afraid to share my thoughts on this (save my little angst headcanon) becasue... well... tumblr... I know it. I've been afraid that I'd be dogpiled and accused of transphobia and that it would cause some kind of Category 5 Tumblr Event in the fandom, ending in me getting harassed, fought with and blocked by most of the fandom. And it's like... no, I am not transphobic, I just have a differing headcanon than most on one particular character. I do definitely lean in appeal toward the "alien" headcanon, though - as in a situation that would allow "something different" that still has the peeing standing up thing going on. In one of my other fandoms, nearly the entire fandom headcanoned a male-presenting alien species as "kinda having both" - typically in a "hidden penis tucked up inside the body when not in use" combined with a cloacal-vent. It was pretty specific, cool, and something that fandom came up with entirely on its own because the intended age-rating for the show did not allow for vivid details on anyone's naughty-bits.

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Don't ever talk to me or my son ever again.

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Plant: "Okay, group hive-mind meeting: So, we want to make another go of trying to communicate and generating a version of our species that can live independently among the humans to help them. Our efforts with a delicate little girl to pull at their heartstrings ended in unmitigated disaster, so, what do we do now?" Some other Plant: "Maybe we shouldn't have a female baby. The humans weirdly seem to place less value on their females. It doesn't makes sense! They seem to listen to their shouty males more." Yet another Plant: "I've noticed, too, that they seem to like certain looks. Oh, yeah, and look to their history! Aren't we on the ship bound out of North America? Yeah... We should make any future offspring we try pale of skin and pale of hair..." Plant: "And really, really good-looking! Humans are nicer to their own kind that they see as aesthetically-pleasing!" Other Plant: "Maybe we should have two... er...ahem! Just in case." Yet Another Plant: "And we've got to time the birth CAREFULLY. How about when only the nice lady is around?" Plants: "Yes, we love her! And she's so sad and lonely! And she regrets everything!" Plant Collective: "LET'S DO THIS!"

So, I came across a tumblr post that brought to mind one UNPOPULAR headcanon of mine. I sometimes feel like I'm the only person in Modern Trigun Fandom who headcanons Vash as cis-gendered, or at least something "close-enough." Almost every fanfic I see and many, many fanarts that are a little more of the nudery variety will give him mastectomy scars (on top of the stuff he already has), a "plantussy" as the common tongue goes, the tag "vash the stampede has a vagina" and etc. And I'm sitting here, in my lonely world remembering the 2000's fandom where people loved joking about Vash's "fourth gun." Anyway, I have my reasons for my headcanon. The first one is "I just don't think Nightow was thinking about it." - It was a '90s manga. Any trans characters in those tended to be rather prominent. In Trigun Maximum, Elendira the Crimsonnail was explicitly trans. Zazie had their body-surfing between human hosts of both male and female variety and can't really be said to have a gender known to human understanding. I think there were probably some background-characters, too that I can't pick out off the top of my head. And it's like... Vash was just a guy? The second one is that he is shown (manga and OG anime), peeing at a urinal. He goes standing up. This is not exclusive to cis-men by any means, it just seems the easiest track to take given the above. And then there's my more hopefully tumblr-acceptable reason. I have a personal cis-headcanon for story-related angst reasons, which I've shared on this blog before. Click for ANGST!

I have, up until now, been afraid to share my thoughts on this (save my little angst headcanon) becasue... well... tumblr... I know it. I've been afraid that I'd be dogpiled and accused of transphobia and that it would cause some kind of Category 5 Tumblr Event in the fandom, ending in me getting harassed, fought with and blocked by most of the fandom. And it's like... no, I am not transphobic, I just have a differing headcanon than most on one particular character. I do definitely lean in appeal toward the "alien" headcanon, though - as in a situation that would allow "something different" that still has the peeing standing up thing going on. In one of my other fandoms, nearly the entire fandom headcanoned a male-presenting alien species as "kinda having both" - typically in a "hidden penis tucked up inside the body when not in use" combined with a cloacal-vent. It was pretty specific, cool, and something that fandom came up with entirely on its own because the intended age-rating for the show did not allow for vivid details on anyone's naughty-bits.

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Trimax Vol 11 Ch 5

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I've seen it put "Except for donuts. Donuts taste like skinny can go fuck itself." (It always reminded me of Vash the Stampede, who remains skinny despite "scarfing donuts like a starved hog in heat" presumably because of all the running and bullet-dodging he does and/or his left-of-human status and some metabolism stuff going on there).

“nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”

damn you must suck at cooking. check out some youtube tutorials man. i believe in you.

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NOTICE: As more and more fanfic writers are using generative AI for their works (you uncreative dweebs), I hereby swear on everything I hold dear that I have not and will NEVER use generative AI in ANY of my written work. Everything I post will be organically and creatively my own.

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i need vash to be really, really weird about livio

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If you got enough money to live happily and comfortably for the rest of your life, but everyone who saw you immediately knew what fandom you are in and understood what that means, would you take it?

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I have done a once in a blue moon update! Fic signal go!

subscribing to a fic isn’t enough I need the author to blast a bat signal into the night sky whenever they update

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trimax x grape vash

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Kuroneko goes "Nayooo..."

Reblog to meow at prev

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Travellers on the Midnight Train

A fanfiction, in snippets.

Summary: Views through the eyes of SEEDS Mothership 5’s crew. Combo-platter of ‘98 and Trigun Maximum.

1. 2.  3.  4.  5.  6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.26. 27. 28. 29.30. 30. Satisfaction Brought it Back

Knives got past the static and beheld images that were, at first, blurred by the yellow gas of an opened Plant-chamber.  It took him a moment to discern five figures in hazardous materials suits, four of them drawing firearms.  He blinked and discovered, when the haze cleared, a pair of infants on the floor of the Plant-chamber after the bulb had been opened and lifted.  The babies seemed to be squalling in sheer protest of having been born, newly exposed to a hard, cold, sharp world.  Knives shuttered and held his hands out before him, gazing at them, dazed.  He then rubbed down his arms and rocked in his chair, disturbing the cat.  The babies were him and Vash.  He knew this without anyone around to tell him.  And the crew were drawing weapons on them.    He expected this kind of behavior out of Steve.  His trust for Mary and Rowan evaporated in an instant.  He was most disappointed in the Captain.  Captain Joey was… a friend… kind of a dad to Rem’s mom.  Why would he?  He was afraid, too?  Tears came hot to Knives’ eyes and he couldn’t blink them away.  One figure among the crew stood out.  A petite hazmatted human – and Knives would know that figure anywhere – jumped out into the Plant chamber and stood over the pair of infants, holding her arms out.  It was a perfect stance that sent a message:  “If you are going to exterminate them, you are going to have to get through me, first!”  Knives caught snipets of conversation, that which was loud enough to be picked up by the recorders.  There was a lot of shouting.  Rem stood her ground.  “Mama…” Knives said through his tears.  The video ended with everyone lowering their guns – Steve only after a harshly barked order by Joey.  Mary vanished briefly to return with medical supplies, towels and small blankets.  She helped Rem bundle up the babies, but Rem did not take her eyes off Mary for a second and retained a stressed stance through it all, even as she carried her bundles out of the room. 

[lost-technology]

Travellers on the Midnight Train

A fanfiction, in snippets.

Summary: Views through the eyes of SEEDS Mothership 5’s crew. Combo-platter of ‘98 and Trigun Maximum.

1. 2.  3.  4.  5.  6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.26. 27. 28. 29.30. 29: Curiosity Killed the Cat

Knives noticed something that struck him as distinctly “off.”  It was not an unwelcomed change in the least, but things around here were different.  Steve shrank from him and Vash more than normal.  He no longer regarded the twins with a threatening grin.  He seemed to be avoiding Rem, as well, as if she’d carried the plague.  There was a tilt to her lips whenever they’d passed him in a hall, too, something amused – and rather dark.  Steve was not hurting them anymore.  Vash said that he ran into him alone when he was headed to greet the sleeping passengers in the Cold Sleep Settlers’ Cradle and he simply turned the other way and went off hurriedly.  Mind-to-mind communication between them revealed no sudden distress, no more rib-kicks or random shots of terror.  The world inside a pod had become – quiet.  All of Vash’s mind-chatter of late had been about flowers – the ones that were “just for decoration” and the ones that could be eaten.  He really liked Rem’s favorite red flowers, but Vash also became interested in sunflowers as soon as he’d learned that they had edible (and delicious!) seeds.  Knives, for his part, spent his downtime in reading ancient mythologies, the Bible being his favorite set of them, and in doing minor hacking of the ship’s computers.  Rem had taught him a little bit, for the sake of accessing data – and was quite cheeky in her “You’re not supposed to know this” lessons, inevitably about law and the history thereof.  She seemed to be particularly proud of his interests.  With Vash she shared her interest in flowers and creatures, with Knives she shared law and history.  He sat alone in a room that he would have feared to enter prior to Steve’s change of demeanor. The ship’s cat had come in with him and jumped up in his lap, purring and being a comforting presence. Knives liked Kuroneko quite a lot and felt lucky whenever she showed up.  She was seldom-seen, off on her own kitty-business about the ship.  He’d broken code on old ship’s monitor-files, ones from the current crew’s mission-history from the automated security cameras.  He ran his hand through his freshly-trimmed hair.  Knives was not pleased with the cut.  He’d given himself the crop when he was impatient with waiting for Rem to get done with Vash’s first haircut and was annoyed with his own first as he’d gotten it too short and no longer matched Vash in looks.  His frustration aside, he brought up an old file from about a year ago on a viewscreen.  His jaw dropped.  He felt the warmth and color leave his skin. 

[lost-technology]

Travellers on the Midnight Train

A fanfiction, in snippets.

Summary: Views through the eyes of SEEDS Mothership 5’s crew. Combo-platter of ‘98 and Trigun Maximum.

1. 2.  3.  4.  5.  6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.26. 27. 28. 29.30. 28: Anthropocene Megafauna

“WHALES!  SAND-WHALES!”  Vash was squealing in excitement.  He took Rem by the hands and they danced, spinning in the Command Room, both laughing in pure joy.  Knives sat by himself, keeping his own interest under wraps.  He’d rather liked the landscapes he was seeing on the screens, though – they reminded him of ancient movies and some of the book-files he’d read, filling his mind up with Zane Grey and Clint Eastwood.  The SEEDS fleet was in high-orbit around the planet they’d recently discovered.  The probes they’d sent out to penetrate the atmosphere were sending out data, newly received and translated by the mothership computers.  There were visuals and, apparently, life on the sandy planet.  There were moving creatures, superficially like animals, and what close-up images could be seen of them made them appear similar to some kinds of insect-larvae or certain types of worms of Old Earth lore, but the captures, of course, were of megafauna.  The probes were not sensitive enough to find smaller creatures.  The life on this planet that the probes could pick up was the size of Earth’s extinct cetaceans and seemed to move like them, too – only they were breaching dense sand rather than lose water.  This, of course, warranted more study.  And Rowan expertly dashed everyone’s dreams.  “It is unlikely that we could classify them in the same taxon as Earth animals,” he said.  He look a look at another readout.  “And there is no surface-flora to speak up, so, I am sorry, Rem, it doesn’t look like there would be any flowers at all.  The surface-temperatures are within livable range provided hard work on the part of the Plants, but the environment is ill-suited to human survival, let alone thriving.”  He gave Captain Joey a quirky smile as he addressed him.  “Also, don’t you think that the “whales,” as Vash is calling them might not be appreciative of an invasive species?”  “Hmmm…” Joey mused.  “I want to send out more probes.  And bring in some readings from the large moon. Didn’t you say earlier that it had a more favorable range of temperatures?”  “Yes, sir.” 

[lost-technology]

Travellers on the Midnight Train

A fanfiction, in snippets.

Summary: Views through the eyes of SEEDS Mothership 5’s crew. Combo-platter of ‘98 and Trigun Maximum.

1. 2.  3.  4.  5.  6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.26. 27. 28. 29.30. 27: Korobeniki

Vash cuddled up to Rem in their quarters.  Knives asked if she was badly hurt.  She shook her head “No” and resumed playing a simple video game as a meditative exercise.  Her eyes were red, puffy and wet, like she had been crying a lot.  They boys had heard that there had been an accident in the Engine Room – that Rem and Steve had been down there to check on something together when a big box of tools broke off its mooring.  Steve had had been buried in it, but not before reflexively grabbing Rem by the wrist and dragging her down a set of steps.  Her wrist and arm were bruised up pretty badly, but it paled compared to Steve’s injuries.  Steve was in the Sick Bay, tended to by Mary and the medical robotic assistants.  Rem had been treated with medication for anxiety and released.  Apparently she had been shaken by the ordeal – witnessing such a terrible thing happening to a crewmate and almost getting hurt worse, herself.  According to Mary, Steve had limped in, barely mobile and dumb as a sheep, simply nodding along as Rem, with a tear-streaked face, explained everything.   There was quite a mess of tools from a spilled box in the Engine Room, which Rowan was cleaning up and securing.  “Are you sure you’re alright?” Knives asked.  “It seems like you were crying more than just jitters from Steve being clumsy.”  Rem hiccupped.  “I’m okay, Knives.  Please don’t worry about me.”   (Of course she had let herself cry in one of the toilet-rooms where no one saw after leading Steve along, after breaking a mooring in the Engine Room, after coming to terms with the fact that she’d just beaten a man within an inch of his life.  It was unlike her and, overall, it had just felt wrong, utterly and completely wrong, even if she’d concluded that it had to happen.  Her precious boys could never know about it). “Don’t be sad, Rem,” Vash said.  He picked up his own computer-book and unfurled it and started a connection.  “Wanna play against me?”  “Sure.”  “Me, too!” Knives chimed in.  The remaining designated evening hours aboard the ship were spent in their quarters keeping up with falling digital blocks in increasingly rapid succession until the woman could not keep up with inborn Plant-child reflexes. 

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Vash's relation with Ship 3 is so.

Like that's his home. That's HOME. He grew up and had more of his formative experiences there than on Ship Five. And like he loves it and he loves the people there, and he doesn't hold a grudge for being imprisoned for months but I also don't think he like. Forgot. Like, two things made a deep impression on him and they were Luida's kindness (humanity can be good) and Brad's distrust (humanity fears/can be cruel to that which is other). But then there's also a third thing and that is that humanity can learn to be accepting. But this ALSO comes with the caveat that they only freed him, only began to accept him AFTER he proved useful. Not because he was a child or because he was starving himself but because he was useful in a specific way that no one else could be.

And like. I imagine so many of his masking behaviors started on Ship Three. And put into practice on No Man's Land. People will like you if you're useful. People will like you if you aren't strange or uncanny. People won't immediately think of you as monstrous if they think you're as human as they are. All of which is complications by Vash craving that kindness and belonging but feeling like he doesn't deserve it because he feels responsible for the crash. He didn't stick around to try and explain anything to Brad and Luida after they heard the recording (or even stay to accept a punishment he might have thought he deserved). Yes he wanted to atone for what he and Nai did, but I also think he was a kid who was too scared to face judgment from the two people who've raised him. Scared about their love being conditional. And the thing is, after they've had a moment to calm down and think clearly, both Luida AND Brad realize that they're being hasty in their conclusions. Brad also can't face Vash (and his forgiveness. I like to think Brad had an actual apology prepared but had to make due with making Vash the coolest prosthetic he could).

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For drama, that's why. Since it was made while the manga was still going and Nightow wasn't completely set on what he was going to do, you could flip it around and say "Why did Brad live in the manga?" If I am recalling my '98 correctly, Brad dies, Doc lives. (If memory serves, Doc was alive at the end of the flying ship episodes)? In the magna, Brad lives, Doc dies. Stampede / Stargaze - Different Brad, kind of a Brad that's crossed with '98 SEEDS crew-er Steve, but toned down (Steve was a total monster). Haven't met Doc yet, if he even will exist.

WHY DID THEY KILL BRAD IN 98 WHAT