#I need to lie down and feel now

[makima-s-most-smile]

Trigun Maximum 3 Part 1

Tumblr hit me with a You're-too-naughty-label for my Trigun Maximum 2 Part 2-Post, so here have a link to it, because you can't find it otherwise. (There is nothing sexual in there... Tumblr, wtf! I reblog naughtier pics than what I wrote about the manga) *cries*

Trigun Ultimate: 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4

Trigun Maximum: 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 9.1, 9.2, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5

01: Reservoir Dogs

Oh, this page! The situations with Vash that are the most impactful for Wolfwood, the ones where he felt with him (blue) and the ones where Vash was explicitly inhuman/above human to him (red). All coming down to the panel in the lower left where both of them share a nonverbal quip, in which Vash most likely appeals to Wolfwood to not kill the people who made him suffer so much. And Wolfwood has to make a decision! Again. From how Wolfwood starts the fight, yeah, he tries to keep Ninelives alive by disarming him. He tries so hard to find a compromise between them. All while being in fucking freefall, btw. 

Ew, human body parts scorpion puppets! (The grammar program wanted to desperately change this outcry to “human body parts are scorpion puppets…” Thanks for making it worse!)

I think it is interesting that nearly everyone around them has problems dealing with the twin’s humanity. But still the glaring difference between Knives and Vash is obvious to them.

I think it is also interesting that Leonof’s point of view is based on how they deal with suffering. He suffered in the past and broke from it. His real body starts to inflict self harm upon itself at the mere mention of that, while the puppet he controls states the plant’s resilience as a glaring example of their inhumanity. And he reasons that he wants Vash in his collection for that very reason. Maybe to learn from him how to be that resilient. 

Such a bitter outlook. While Leonof has his little ideological crisis just by Vash existing, Wolfwood fights for his life, again, and again internally against his deeply rooted cynicism. 

I love how so much of Wolfwood’s inner beliefs are directly contrary to his existence. The nihilistic bastard says nothing changes, all good is for naught and ideals don’t matter. Without giving us much context, we can confer much about his life. He had no one to really look up to, even if he was in a safe place it was in constant danger of disappearing or he had experience with that just happening, he has seen good people die and their goodness being for nothing in the long run. But then here he is, still willing to dirty his own hands so he can make sure that orphaned kids have that safe place that he didn’t have. He changes their future. But he is completely unable to see it.

And Vash does. I love how the panels drive that down. Vash is not deterred by Wolfwood’s cynicism. Vash is not deterred by his own experiences. If it is the right thing or not remains to be seen.

WHY ARE THE TOMA CRYING?! QQ BABIES! NOOOO! Meryl, what did you do to them? (And while they are the horses of No-Man’s-Land, we now know they can barf. I’d like to see the No-Man’s-Landers reaction to the German idiom: “Well, horses have been seen throwing up.” Which kinda means: You never know. All is possible. And I just want to know their reaction to it! They don’t know horses and they don’t know the idiom and they would know even less likely that horses are unable to vomit. *cries* I am suddenly emotional about this scene. AHHHHH! I wanna see Meryl and Wolfwood being completely confused, Milly just accepting it and Vash being like: Huh? But Horses can't vomit...)

02: Cement

“This is my business.” What do you mean, Wolfwood? Your decision and you standing by it? Or you being unforgivable? 

*sees Ninelives opening their mouth* I am not gonna say the whole thing but it ends with dentata… Thanks, Freud.

I have problems following the whole action, but damn. It is bloody, gory and feels so personal. And it fits Wolfwood’s state of mind, battling with the feeling of dread by Vash, his own mortality and his struggle being trapped in a No-Win-Situation. All odds are against Wolfwood and are towering over him. David against Goliath. Wolfwood is so small.

Nightow is able to give us that sense of Wolfwood being small and a punching bag. But he still is able to add those moments that show how fucking quick Wolfwood’s deduction is and how fast he acts to it. 

I love the way Nightow draws Wolfwood here. He seems to be less there than Ninelives with how part of his body is not drawn. And it reminds me so much of the page of Wolfwood’s past where he was shot the first time.

“I don’t want to die!”

And that is what it comes back to again and again with Wolfwood.

Sassy!

Did I mention that I love the way how Nightow draws body language? You really do get the feeling that Wolfwood is barely able to stay on his feet.

Well, Wolfwood said he’d disarm him. And, look, that way he didn’t have to kill Ninelives! Even though Wolfwood desperately fought for his life, he was able to hold up Vash’s ideals here. He tries so hard, man. I feel for him.

“The rest of them will come... That's for sure... Like demons risin' from hell…” While Wolfwood enjoys his (earned) victory (too early), he is already thinking about the consequences of his decision and what further strife it will bring him.

Oh, fuck, I didn’t realise the arm was moving! I needed to take a double take when I saw it holding the up button in the next chapter. Ew! Ew! Ew! Maybe it is me not being able to take in all the detail that Nightow draws. Good that I am reading the manga in discussion mode.

3: No Escape!

Damn, the chapter title. No escape from what? No escape for Nicholas from his fate? Is it an omen that Nicholas’ struggle to escape his bloody lifestyle is doomed and that he has to kill again and again? That though he tried his best to upkeep Vash’s ideals that he has to decide between Ninelives’ and his own life? Is this foreshadowing that he will be unable to escape his place between a rock and a hard place and end up squished? 

Nicholas’ third gun, the fucking rocket launcher.

Vash hears Wolfwood’s struggle, but we don’t get any insight into what he thinks. Worry for Wolfwood? Surely. But what more? Does he reflect upon their talk here? Is he considering that Wolfwood is risking his very life for Vash’s home right now? For him? How that explicitly contradicts Wolfwood’s very reason to be at his side? As a traitor to be and follower of Knives.

As another user said, Wolfwood’s fight is a close combat one, all dark and claustrophobic. It is David against Goliath. Vash is in open space. His struggle is not for his life, not really, his struggle is to reach Leonof and get through to him. By switching between their fights, Nightow stresses the difference. That's such a brilliant way to story tell.

Please correct me. I have a really big problem reading Wolfwood here. Why is he grinning? I read it as defiance and a dare against the thought of something being immortal and thus being unable to be reached by a mere mortal like him. It is as much a challenge towards Ninelives as it is towards Vash. But I am not sure and I need other perspectives!

And just a quiet, little panel between Wolfwood spearing and shooting Ninelives, shows him being drenched in blood, looking weary and tired. And the way the blood smears under his eye, looks like he is crying. The panel is so full, you barely see it and you barely see it on the page. You need to pay attention to see it. And damn, if that doesn't summarise Wolfwood's plight and arc perfectly. I think it is my favourite panel out of the volume, there are so many cool ones, but this is so quiet and sad between all those loud and cool fighting ones. Wolfwood is drowning, someone please rescue him!

And while Wolfwood’s fight is bloody, explosive and incredibly loud, Vash’s is quiet and dreary. It plays with our feeling of foreboding and your knowledge that what he fights is the corpses of close ones.

Baby with a gun!

“I see beneath that cold, calculative expression of yours.” Interesting, Leonof. A chapter ago you said that his cold stare hides a void full of suffering. What more do you want to see? Are you mocking him? Or are you trying to relate?

And the chapter ends with Vash declaring Leonof’s real name and that the game ends. No escape for Emilio, either!

04: Emilio the player

Hi, Brad! Those aren’t only puppet parts! :3 Those are body parts of the people you grew up with. Joy!

The puppet master reacts to the name. Leonof registers the name as his own, but his puppet seems to deny it! His puppet is his way to keep a distance from himself and reality.

Vash knows the name of everyone he has met. (I cannot even remember the name you just told me. Vash superpowers! Well, that, but it also makes him so incredibly inhuman for me. He knows everyone, but connects to no one. It reads like such an artificial bond. He loves humanity, but like I love Pokemon. (without the fighting system)) But damn, Leonof’s breakdown is so creepy. 10/10 sleep paralysis demon. Good work, Nightow.

Hi, Doc. ;C

“All according to keikaku!,” is what I think about when reading that sentence.

But seriously, I read up guignol and was kinda shocked that it is comparable to the German Kasperle theatre and had a bit of a culture revelation. *hugs their French brethren*

The same page has Vash connecting the dots and forming a plan on how to defeat Emilio without killing him. I love how we get the foreshadowing without realising it.

Gosh, I have a thing for wet hair Vash. He just looks so much better with his hair down! 

I know that No-Man’s-Land doesn’t have the best dentistry, but, Emilio, your teeth shouldn’t shatter like this.

Sorry, Brad, but that is no puppet. :/

[dykedvonte]

I think a big misunderstanding is the power people give Curly to actually change things about the way the pony express operates or could’ve done things on the Tulpar.

We are talking about a company that docks pay for bad synergy despite mandated psych evals that should tell which staff members would work well together, only allots for 5 hours of sleep despite having literally no other tasks to truly do and locks all resources behind the access of one person. The last one is likely to manage resources and make it easier to justify collective punishment and blaming one person for it; someone needs something in “excess” or the captain gives in? It’s all on them your pay is docked. Instant resentment.

It’s insidious how the company works, it’s by design to distract you from coming after them, to force tensions to line their own pockets. With all the restrictions and forced interactions, altercations are bound to happen. 5 hours of sleep a day, limited sources of entertainment, no real tasks… the monotony alone would cause bad cabin fever, mix that with just only one absolute mediator and you get the exact environment that allows shit like in the game to happen.

The idea he could just complain and try to throw his weight around to get them to dig into their pocket for the crews comfort is laughable and misses the predatory and dehumanizing aspect of capitalism the Pony Express represents. Curly was and is still just another asset to them. Being a top show pony doesn’t mean he’s anywhere close to the actual top. He is the top of the working ladder, not whoever’s in corporate, he wouldn’t even be on the bottom step unlike what Jimmy perceives. The resounding recommendations he would get are almost mocking as they throw him out like nothing just like the rest. Being a shitty fucking company, how much do you bet they’d mean anything anyways, especially since he wanted to leave the field all together.

He made a fuss and they didn’t listen, he says he should’ve done more but you can tell he knows it wouldn’t have changed anything. Jobs like this are willing to make a sacrifice if it means even a penny more. Curly makes a bigger fuss they likely would’ve just found an “unrelated” reason to fire him, hired a more pliable guy or, terrifyingly, promoted Jimmy. The company was failing, going to shut down whether anything happened on the ship or not. But knowing that they were shutting down and that everyone, including him, would be out of a job with this being their last paycheck, he had to factor in not destroying the last bit of their financial stabilities combined with every other issue on the vessel and his own. He gets another cryopod or locks and then he has to break to them that they are not only fired but there will be substantial cuts to their paychecks due to the “upgrades” (things that already should’ve been in place on their part) on top of anything else that could be docked along the way.

You can blame him for saying it so early into the trip but then again, if he mentioned it later who’s to say it wouldn’t have been worse? On the capitalism side alone how would people in a galaxy away from home, out of a job and already stir crazy react? Don’t get me started on how Jimmy would have reacted if he realized he only had two days left to fix what would be a very hard to miss “problem” in his head…

I can’t even consider explaining this as devils advocate because it’s just facts of the world we and they live in and factors that heavily affected the situation. People are just so quick to make claims on the ease of the choices when P.E literally makes it hard to choose to do anything but suck it up.

[redrobin-detective]

My favorite part of my Adventure Time binge is I pick what looks like the most silly episodic episode with a weird title and a plot that seems pretty open and shut and it goes in the most unexpectedly painful and lowkey horrifying direction that leaves me shook. I expected shenanigans and got an existential crisis instead.

[sholmeser]

ary scheffer / justus knetch / snake & ocelot

[anghraine]

You'd think the worst part of being immunocompromised would be catching All The Things, but honestly, the actual worst part is not being able to visit very sick loved ones because they're afraid of you catching the sickness :(

[sircolinmorgan]

SO THIS JUST HAPPENED

HE WAS SO LOVELY. full report tomorrow when I can actually think straight 🤯🤯

[pansyfemme]

boy who so does his homework

[lemongogo]

more

[she-atti-on-my-lyus]

just got reminded of the fact that both black brothers died thinking the other hated them

[valzhangism]

i know i said i was happy about how mel's story went, but the more i think about it the less i'm sure about that. this is very much connected to how the themes of classism and wealth disappeared in s2, but mel in the beginning was the epitome of piltover. she wanted to advance piltover to prove herself to her mother. to "put piltover—" and by extension herself, "—on the map."

she wanted wealth just to have it. and i'm not blaming her for anything that happened, especially with hextech! she, just like jayce and viktor, could not have known what it would lead to. i mean yeah heimerdinger said so but who the hell listens to heimerdinger? but anyway i think mel changed throughout s1, much in thanks to jayce. by the end she's become more cognisant of the mistreatment of zaunites. she's the first to vote for their peace. she was a good person all along but now she knows how to act on it. it's also seen more in s2 act 1. when she covers her painting with gold, it's symbolic—she won't act according to what her mother might think. she won't let her desire for approval dictate her anymore.

so somehow i wish those themes were. continued, somehow? like again they were dropped not just with mel but the whole show and it makes her story a off to me. there's no meaningful commentary on war or classism or how her ideology stands opposite to her mother's. like some people have said, it feels like she doesn't have much agency, even if she is really cool. and that to me is a shame because agency felt like her thing. "to shape your own destiny" as she says to jayce in s1. i know her collaborating with the black rose (but not fully joining them) and learning magic is supposed to represent becoming independent from her mother, taking her own path, but some other aspects of her character were thrown away... the more i think about it the more i'm thinking they kind of #girlboss-ed her a little bit. maybe to sell another champion. i can't help but feel like even though i enjoyed seeing her on screen, the payoff didn't feel proportionally satisfying compared to her setup in s1.

[astrobei]

a body in motion - chapter 4

“I’m saying–” Mike tries again, “I’m going to do something so stupid– so, so stupid– and I need you to tell me not to.”

[triglycercule]

sometimes i like to think that horror comes to dust's room late at night just to talk to phantom papyrus. no he doesn't wanna talk to dust. horror probably doesn't even CARE if dust's awake at the asscrack of dawn or rambling off to the hallucination too loudly this late at night because he just wants to talk to phantom papyrus

horror's not delusional enough to believe that phantom paps is actually real and his own papyrus like dust does but sometimes he really wants to,,,, so just for these short moments between them he wants to pretend that the hallucination is his papyrus. that he gets to talk to his own brother before everything went to shit and before he ruined his brother's life. yeah sure phantom paps kinda says some crazy stuff that horror's papyrus never would back then but so what?? dust's papyrus is the closest thing he's got and at least he doesn't have to deal with the guilt at even LOOKING at his brother's face (the sunken eyesockets,,,, the uneven teeth,,,,, yeah no) because there's nothing there. horror doesn't have to do anything but keep his back turned to dust and just talk to papyrus through him

they both keep their backs turned to eachother when they do this because neither of them can stand looking at eachother. dust especially because hearing horror sound so much like how he was before. horror sounds so lighthearted and relaxed and just,,,,, normal that it almost reminds dust of himself. maybe if he closed his eyes and tuned out his own voice he could just imagine the moment being a conversation between himself and paps back then before he had to kill him over and over. dust doesn't want to have to look back and see horror's mutilated skull and his permanently replaced eye. he doesn't want the fake scenario he's choosing to indulge in right now to be broken

and then i think they talk like that for a long time; because horror has a lot to say to paps about himself and what he regrets and dust has a lot of reminiscing to do on the good old days before he lost himself :3

[monsterfuckermilligan]

hc that the only people that think michael is funny are adam………and lucifer

[wildwood-faun]

step one of mission: against ennui has been completed

[littencloud9]

i love u nekoma & karasuno i love you SO MUCH

[waterdiamondworld]

I've first seen Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood back in 2010, and it's still my all-time favorite anime, it had a huge impact on my taste in anime and how I observe any kind of storytelling in general.....

BUT WHEN I FRICKIN SAW THIS TODAY

THIS, IN THE END CREDITS OF FMA BH.........

I FEEL LIKE I'VE JUST SEEN THE TRUTH.

I thought I was just imagining it... The similar time period, the train scenes, the single father scientist with a little girl (thank GOD they didn't have a dog....) the super-powerful mythic relic that can change anything and help the two brothers get back what they had lost????

But the fact that P.A. Works had SOMETHING to do with FMA BH....

IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE both of these stories, and I can also see their shortcomings......

BUT I HAD TO SCREAM ABOUT THIS SOMEWHERE OR I WOULD HAVE GONE INSANE. 😭😭😭😭😭😭

I'll just go back to drawing the next webcomic chapter now .