#Trigun rant

[makima-s-most-smile]

saw this meme today and made it Vashwood

[captcins]

Vash : WHAT'S YOUR TYPE

Wolfwood : Anything, honestly, but nerds especially

Vash, desperately, as Wolfwood bleeds out: YOUR BLOOD TYPE

Wolfwood : Oh! B positive.

Vash : DONT TRY TO CHEER ME UP JUST TELL ME YOUR BLOOD TYPE

wolfwood :

[gummii-teef]

Controversial take????:

Why are the biggest trigun (mainly Vashwood creators) people who so openly ship Vash and Knives- like they aren’t brothers. This mostly stems from the whole zine conversation thing- with big artists getting rejected for their participation in Vash n Knives stuff. Im not gonna get into a proship ass debate, but if you like my art and view my profile and like that stuff- get off my page. I do not want you here. Leave.

[makima-s-most-smile]

That's because he feels the noose around his neck getting pulled taut

I love that the, “Oh,” moment in Vashwood fics from Wolfwood’s perspective is always some variation of, “Ah, fuck. Shit. God fucking dammit.”

[makima-s-most-smile]

Saw this meme and I felt something about Vash wearing red...

[captcins]

i want a Fanfic where Adult vash and Knives find out that Rem isnt dead.🥹🥹

( i wanna see her reaction to seeing her baby boys all grown up.😩 )

[makima-s-most-smile]

I saw this post today and thought about it (I also didn't want to rant on a post that is a year old... so... separate post)

The soul talk is from Conrad in Stampede, if I remember it right, and it is mostly basis for him to justify his eugenist views and his inhumane experimentations.

All plants are sentient and sapient. While they are individuals, they are also existing in a state of psychic linked hivemind, not quite dissimilar to Zazie the Beast (though they are one person with many bodies, while plants are many people with many bodies connected through another dimension).

Plants feel joy, hurt, fear. And humans who work with them seem to be aware of it, as seen in flashbacks in the manga. A plant engineer is shown at a last run and seen praying as the plant is killed. They know and they feel guilt.

Though, does the regular human know it? Or does the general public see them as generic producers? Kinda like people today forget that the bacon they get in the supermarket is from a once living being, a pig, that lived, breathed and oinked. And that disconnect invites greed, dehumanisation of the plants and the overusage of them. That disconnect invites waste, greed and cruelty towards plants.

A big difficulty in the coexistence between humans is -besides the dependency of humanity on plants as producers - that plants and humans cannot directly communicate. A plant cannot just say: No! She cannot decide to not produce. And that puts her in a position that is easily exploited.

Her wellbeing is in the hands of her caretakers. And the actions of those are dependent on their power (Are they independent or can someone pressure them for more food, more materials, more anything?), their education (were they taught by other plant engineers? If not, how do they avoid critical malfunctions killing more plants which worsens the pressure to produce on other plants) and environmental factors (98 put it pretty good. By destroying July without killing anyone, the people needed shelter elsewhere. The refugees put pressure on the system in place, which let to more plants dying and more humans dying as a result. No Man's Land/Gunsmoke is a system barely held in balance, if at all. Even a tiny shift in higher birthrates, a bad sandstorm, a malfunction, can topple everything.)

That's were independent plants like Knives, Vash, Tesla, Chronica and Domina come in. They are born from their sisters, who need their bulbs to live, as beings that can walk the surface and talk like the humans. Additionally to that, they need a caretaker like every baby does. That way, Independent plants are in the role of a bridge between the two species.

Independents are not only able to communicate with humans, they are also able to do the same with their sisters. Sadly… Knives and Vash SUCK at communicating. Finding the remains (are they just remains? That remains to be seen… (In Stampede)) of Tesla, traumatised the boys and their following path, while diverging radically from each other, is not one of peaceful, intertwined living.

Knives is scared as fuck that he will be murdered the same way as Tesla was. While he cares about his brother, this is mostly about himself. Knives does not listen. He does not listen to Vash and he really does not listen to his sisters. Knives does as Knives does and everyone else is in for the ride.

And by stranding humanity onto a planet without any ressources like he did, Knives also made it extremely difficult for humanity to be good. They are as desperate and as vicious as Knives is (thank you @duncanor for pointing that out). Knives put humanity into a situation that makes it easy for him to point at them and say: 'Look, they are all rabid beasts, killing and maiming each other. They need to die faster.'

Vash is grieving and feels guilty. He does listen, he smiles and then keeps on going the same way he was on before. Vash is put in a situation of having to listen to his sisters being overworked and dying, but he also sees humans desperatedly fighting for ressources and trying to live. So he does nothing to change the status quo, only barely patching one grievance to rush to the next one, while trying to find his brother. Because Vash needs everyone to live. His sisters AND humanity for which Rem died. And changing the system could destroy everything. So he focuses on patching things up and stopping his brother.

Tesla is dead, Domina and Chronica are still on Earth. I am sure the latter two would be entirely overwhelmed, too, in Vash' situation. How do you fix that massive ball of mismanagement, when humanity is barely scratching by? Yes, the Independent Plants exist, they are in a unique place to overcome the crack of communication between the species.

But how? No one gave Vash or Knives any instruction in how to do their part in this. We got from one line that the independents went through a similar uprising on earth, too. But we do not know how they overcame it to coexist.

So, NO ONE is in a position to truly fix this situation, since there are not many ressources beyond the plants and there are so many more humans just existing than the planet and plants could provide for. There… there is no answer.

THIS is no trolley problem… If you save the plants, humanity dies, but plants need humanity, too. This is a last ditch effort of two species to not die out. It is their extinction. Many dinosaurs survived the meteor and then died off in the next years, decades due to starvation, thirst or just not finding a mate.

And then there is the last important part. What do the plants want? Knives does only what Knives wants, he has no idea what his sisters want. Humans also have no idea. And Vash… doesn't dare to disturb the status quo, because he wants to keep everyone alive.

From what we can gather in Trimax and interviews, plants like humans and they like producing things. And it is one of the few positive parts of Trimax' ending, plants and humans communicate. The plants share all the good and bad memories of humans with humanity and receive help from humanity. Plants see their future with humanity interlinked. They want humanity to survive, too, together.

[makima-s-most-smile]

It is also the first time that Vash truly wants something for himself. His prayer is for his own selfish wish, because Wolfwood is the first human he wants at his side. Vash successfully ran from every other person, but Wolfwood stayed at his side. Only when Wolfwood left, Vash realised that he wanted the company. And then it was too late. Vash praying is a sign of his utmost despair and his absolute helplessness in face of Wolfwood's passing.

And even in prayer Vash and Wolfwood are the opposites. When Wolfwood prayed, he prayed to go somewhere with his feeling of hope. Just before Vash showed him the satellites, showed him that there is a way for humanity to survive. And Wolfwood prayed not for the impossible, he prayed for hope to persist and his prayer did not encompass himself, but all of humanity. Wolfwood prayed at the notion of tangible hope. Wolfwood prays, because he is unable to do anything else.

And Vash prayed as he was confronted with utter helplessness. While Vash has been defeated more than once, it was party always on his terms, within his rules of Not Killing and putting his own life on the line. But he lost Wolfwood, who played by Vash' rules, just with his own life, instead of Vash'. Vash prayed not for others, but because he himself was unable to deal with the pain of losing Wolfwood. Vash' prayer is inherently selfish, it is about himself and his own pain. Vash prays, because he has no other way to endure the grief of Wolfwood's upcoming departure. Vash' prays, because he is unable to do anything else.

So while the reasons behind the prayers are completely opposite, the reason for their prayer, their powerlessness, is the same.

Time to be fucking sad. Vash talks to God exactly once in Trimax (as of the end of vol 10 at least). Like he goes into church once, laments about how he thinks he is unforgivable, but that's musing to himself. He's not actually talking to God or praying.

No, Vash talks to God exactly once, to ask for the only thing he ever requests. The only thing he wants, and the possibly the only thing he allows himself to want. And of course by the time he allows it, it's entirely too late.

Vash talks to God to ask for exactly one thing. To save Wolfwood, to let him live. So they can share their tomorrows. And by the time Vash lets himself ask for this one thing, he already knows how futile it is. Sitting next to his best friend, probably the only person who can come close to understanding him, he talks to God for the first time. And God does not answer.

[captcins]

what if someone hurts Vash infront if Knives?

bruh, he soooooo dead.💀💀

[stefisdoingthings]

wings

[makima-s-most-smile]

Me: *angyly creates bead lizards*

Meet Vash the Lizard 2.0 and Nicholas L. Zardwood 2.0 (the L stands for le). With plantmarkings and prosthetic on Vash and cross, boob window, bloody hands and 98's halfter on Nick.

'Vash! No, there are children present!'

[makima-s-most-smile]

E.G. the Mine works at Hot Topic. It is not a fix or anything, but the consequence of him being himself.

i find the gung-ho guns potential in modern aus super funny because, like. hoppered? he was just a guy who got really mad at vash for july & that's pretty easy to adapt in a way that doesn't make him like. actively murderous. monev the gale? if you're a tristamp fan thats just rollo and he's like 10 & if you're coming from any other source he's just an ex con who went to jail because his father figure set him up. even rai-dei's desire to be the best swordsman ever is still something you might see from a normal person. E.G the mine, though? there is something deeply wrong with him and no au you make can fix that

[ohitslen]

*Vampirizes your Vashwood*

keep reading for more :)

If there needs to be much closer close-up please let me know!

[makima-s-most-smile]

Theory: Legato or Wolfwood are what Tesla would have grown up to.

“What do you mean by that, my favourite, derpy lizard,” you ask. To which I say…

I thought long and hard about it, between the twins and their human followers there is one very important and blatant difference in how they have experienced their trauma. Wolfwood and Legato have been direct victims. They have personally endured torture. Vash and Knives witnessed the aftermath of such torture. They are hurt indirectly, accidentally even. Both experiences are painful and I am not making up a hierarchy about which one was hurt the most, because that’s useless.

Though, there is one big difference for me. Neither Vash nor Knives have experienced the helplessness and powerlessness that the other three have experienced. And that is what makes them who they are. Knives becomes a tyrant, always fearing losing control and ending up like Tesla. Vash becomes a people pleasing martyr that denies himself even the slightest care. But they have power. It is their decision and agency, how they use it. Sure, their trauma twists it, but they have, in theory, power to do as they like. Hell, the whole history of No-Man's-Land is them acting how they want. Only they themselves can force them to do something, they are completely independent from outer influences, except the other. And such their sense of community, connection to others and their empathy suffers. If you are completely independent, why would you need to truly connect to anybody? (stares at Vash, but I digress)

The feelings of powerlessness and helplessness are such an important part of Legato and Wolfwood.

For Legato they are the reason why he fawns over the perfect being Knives. Knives is perfect because he is powerful. He can do whatever he wishes to and that is something Legato looks up to. But however craycray Legato is, he knows suffering. Even though it is useless in the grand scheme of things, since Knives will scorch the whole of No-Man’s-Land, he still saves those enslaved women. It would be totally out of character, if it wasn't for the bit that he himself experienced such assaults and thus doesn't want others to experience the same. Even if they would die anyway.

For Wolfwood, while he didn’t experience outright torture (most likely) before joining the orphanage, we get hints that his childhood before wasn’t the easiest. His feelings of powerlessness and receiving a place in the orphanage as a saving grace make him a protector. Someone who endures, so others do not have to. And that is how he endures the outright torture of the EoM. Because he experienced community and selfless help and chose to help the people he cared for likewise. Wolfwood reflects the good he has experienced, for the better and worse.

So, for me, the question is not if Tesla would be similar to one of them, but more akin to: Which experiences would make her develop in either way? Would she become more like Legato if some “Ubermensch” saved her? Or would she become more like Wolfwood, if she has the chance to experience true selflessness and community?

[lunarelly]

mwah mwah mwah i love you characters that are not entirely human thus separating you from humanity thus you grapple with your purpose and identity every single day for your whole life mwaaaaahhhh

[makima-s-most-smile]

I still love how we didn't get any backstory for him. We didn't need to have his reasons or anything, like with Midvalley or Hoppered. Chapel is playing God with his pupils, since he had no real power in the world under Knives' thumb. And like Knives, he is a cruel, arrogant God (though his arrogance doesn't hide fear, like with Knives). And Wolfwood dared to defy him. Wolfwood reached not only for a world beyond Chapel, but without him. Chapel's ego couldn't deal with that. If every character's morals are set on a greyscale, Chapel's are darker than the nightsky.

It's not even a distorted sense of survival that makes him act that way like Knives. There is no ounce of sympathy for this churchman abusing his power for his own selfish sake.

We don't need to know anything more about him to understand that Wolfwood not only survived this monster, but that this monster couldn't break Wolfwood's ideals in the end. Chapel failed.

Not without reason we aren't shown anything about how Vash dealt with his corpse, if at all. The best punishment for a person like Chapel is being forgotten.

the reviews are in