#and be completely baffled by Vash

[spectre-writes]

Me: I should finish my existing fics

The Devil: *whispering* But what if you wrote a Tesla lives AU?

[lost-technology]

Along the lines of writing Vash's otherness that I was discussing... Well, polishing up my re-read of Trimax 2, complete with the ending-rant by Nightow including his baffled reaction at anyone wanting to actually make an anime out of his manga (I'd feel the same if anyone wanted to do anything with my indie novels), I just started thinking about baffles and my brain went back to idea of Vash's "otherness" that the manga conveys (and both animes, to a degree, too) and other characters' reactions to it and how I think people who do fanwork ought to remember it more, that I wish I was seeing more work from that angle (over established "everyone's just chill with it" stuff more popular in the fandom for shipping reasons). And... I thought... well, I have some inspiration for my own future work now. Something happened to me a few weeks ago that really struck me through with a sense of the Other: This is going to sound very silly. A few weeks ago, I saw a Cybertruck in the wild for the first time. Yes, it's basically an Internet passtime for everyone to make fun of the Muskrat's Uglitrucks and multiple photos and memes have been posted and I've seen them aplenty, but LET ME TELL YOU that they DO NOT prepare you for seeing the actual thing, in person. I saw one parked at the intersection of my street and the main street in my neighborhood, oncoming, signaling for a turn. I froze, white-knuckled on my car's steering wheel having an honest to God deer in the headlights reaction. I was wondering why there was a giant SHOEBOX making a blinking orange line. My brain could not parse it. I actually had to take a moment to figure out what I was looking at before I connected "Cybertruck?" The thing turned and it was, indeed, a Cybertruck, got a look at it from the side, which is what I'd seen the photos portray. Dead-on like that is just... a different look. I think there was a split-second of fear, but it was mostly a BAFFLE. I mean, in that moment, I realized why deer and rabbits freeze in car headlights. (I read that it is actually an issue with their vision not being designed to see such bright light in the dark and it literally shorts out their brains for a few moments, like a computer glitch). I... had a similar reaction to a damn automobile! It wasn't even anything that was going to harm me, it just "brain go wonk" when encountering something I'd never seen before and, according to my brain, didn't have any business being. (Those things are trucks, but aren't truck-shaped. They are a New Thing). I honestly think that might be what people unfamiliar with direct engineer-level interaction with Plants probably think of Vash when he feathers / petals out / glows, etc. of Weird Plant Things he does. Even if they can get over fear, there will always be a baffle that the human brain has trouble with - a sort of animal-reaction to the Other.

[avaantares]

AVA rants about FFVII localization (again)

I know I have more Opinions about media localization than the average person, but I am frankly baffled by the extent to which the FFVII franchise changes words that are already in English in the original Japanese to different (and often less appropriate) English words for no reason whatsoever.

I mean, in a game that's a thinly-veiled soapbox about ecological responsibility, did we REALLY need to change "Monsters," a word that accurately describes dangerous mutated creatures that are largely the result of humans screwing up the environment, to "Fiends," a word that refers to evil spirits? Do they think Americans are too dumb to know what a monster is? What benefit does that change offer?

Or sometimes changing the word is understandable, but then they choose something that's not an improvement. I can see wanting to change "Feelers" (the Destiny Tadpoles), because it sounds a bit odd, but "Whispers" is no more comprehensible -- in fact, it makes even less sense for something that detects and responds to changes in the timeline.

A few more from last night's Rebirth play session that struck me as especially arbitrary, just off the top of my head:

World Report -> World Intel

Battle Simulator -> Combat Simulator

Biorat -> Toxirat (but it... it poisons you. Y'know, exactly like the Bio spell? It's right there in the name, guys)

Ancient Matter -> Protorelics (my guess here is that they didn't want players to associate the items with 古代種, which gets translated as the Ancients in English, so this one might get a pass)

...And that's leaving aside the whole saga of NPC names, nearly all of which are changed from non-Japanese names to other non-Japanese names (e.g. Green -> Billy, Val -> Vash, Aniyan Kunyan -> Andrea Rhodea, et al.). The ones that date back to the original game can be slightly forgiven because '90s localizations were Like That, but many of these are new characters for the Remake trilogy. (There's also my whole beef with altering characters' personalities -- because sweet girl-next-door Aerith wasn't edgy enough and needed to swear more, I guess? -- but I've ranted about that plenty in the past.)

Anyway, I'm getting a ton of Japanese language practice playing this game, because the English subtitles are often saying the exact opposite of what the Japanese dialogue is and using completely different names for people and things, so I have to pay attention.

[falling-star-cygnus]

millionsummers drabble pt2! {can it still be called a drabble at this point…?}

pt.1 here✨

“….Nai, it sounds like he just has a cold.”

The allegedly {allegedly- they’re still twins} older plant stills, face shifting into a comical look of distressed confusion. {and wasn’t that a sight, Nai distressed over a human}

A long moment passes.

“What the fuck is a cold-”

Vash immediately clamps his prosthetic hand over his mouth to stifle the bubbling laughter. This was a delicate situation. One wrong move and Nai could very quickly put his small family in danger.

He immediately sobers with that thought. Right… this was still Millions Knives. Not Nai, not anymore.

Wolfwood seemed to have no such reservations and barks out a high cackle that has Meryl swatting at him and Roberto tipping his flask nearly upside down. {wolfwood you work for him, please-}

The outlaw notes, with a sense of newborn wonder, that Nai genuinely looks scared for Legato. Like the human won’t come out of this alive.

Vaguely, Vash also wonders if Legato will. He knows some humans have very weak immune systems and this human has always looked a little on the sickly side.

“He’s just sick, Nai. Remember how Rem would sometimes need a few days to recover?”

The mention of Rem has Nai scowling on a dime. And ow, Vash had almost forgotten that his twin was the reason she’s not here anymore.

Nai shuffles on bare-feet {how are they not burning-?}. He stops scowling near instantly, though, seemingly remembering that it’s Vash he’s come to for help.

The awkward avoidance of the outlaw’s face is back and that raises Vash’s spirits again. Just a little.

“…what do I do?”

Nai asks, quiet and completely unlike his normally commanding presence.

Vash stares at him for a solid minute, so astonished and baffled that it takes Nai turning on his heel in embarrassment for him to throw out his hands with a panicked “wait-!”

Maybe this could be the start of something gentle.

[feekins]

AAAAAAAA TRIGUN MAXIMUM VOL 3, MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!

once I get some flailing out of my system, I'll get right into my thoughts and things and whatever translation weirdness I find as I re-read ch 1!!!

(NOTE: I'm reading the Dark Horse [physical] and the Overhaul [online] translations side-by-side)

as I've said before, I first read the Dark Horse translation as it came out in the US when I was a teenager almost 20 years ago. I remember always carrying the latest volume around with me at school, reading and re-reading it every chance I got (often when I should've been doing other things, y'know, as you do), and...honestly, I'm amazed I didn't get vol 3 taken away and/or had my parents called on me for it 😅 no spoilers, but lemme tell you: this volume, you can really feel the jump from shounen to seinen. maybe that's one of the reasons why it's among those that most stick out to me? there are other reasons, of course, but I'll get to them as they come up. anyway. I'm excited about this volume, so let's get into it!

(Dark Horse on top, Overhaul on bottom)

on the first page after the table of contents, we have context-altering translation discrepancies. I mean, yeah, you could say either one works, but...idk. once again, I'm more partial to the Overhaul. to me, it better emphasizes how much Wolfwood finds uncanny and/or doesn't understand about Vash.

and these flashbacks as Wolfwood's falling? I never rly understood it. this time around, I see it as Wolfwood ① reflecting on how Vash expresses his ideology and ② getting pissed about it (again).

I didn't understand what was happening on this page until this read-through! I always thought Wolfwood just hit a wall or something, but no - it's a lil self-own with the Punisher there (no but srsly, o u c h)

on the next page, subtle translation differences. Dark Horse has Wolfwood saying to Gray "Well done...y' big lug! Now, eat your reward! I'll feed you your death!!" whereas the Overhaul has "Nice job...ya fat lug! I'll feed ya yer reward! Now, eat lead!"

...and here, the translations say THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE of one another 😵‍💫

a more minor translation discrepancy is when Leonov is set up to attack Vash with that frickin'...vivisection-made...human taxidermy puppet behemoth...Dark Horse says "27 lethal points!" while the Overhaul says "27 lethal strikes!"

same deal with after Vash guns the thing down (in tHE COOLEST GOTDAMN SEQUENCE!!!). I'm not sure if it's Leonov talking for himself or through the puppet Unica, but either way, Dark Horse has (talking about Vash) "What a baffling fellow. If you're going to aim, it should be for the head, right?" while the Overhaul has "You're a strange fellow. If you intend to shoot me, shouldn't you aim for the head?" before, I thought this was in reference to Vash shooting the puppet thing - but this read-through, with the Overhaul wording things more obviously, it occurs to me that it's actually in reference to Vash also shooting through the tree branch that Leonov and Unica were just standing on.

that "drilling" bit always confused me. the Overhaul's translation...brings to mind that thing Nightow said in an interview about Vash and Knives leading a 'crawling existence' - this prolonged life alongside and witnessing humanity (to differing extents, of course)...

also. Leonov's face bleeding. I distinctly remember thinking on my very first read-through "dayum, he's got a strong grip!" but this. has nothing to do with that. 😱

on the next page, a minor translation discrepancy which falls under the category of Dark Horse Breaking Down Words And/Or Sentences Weird. in the Dark Horse translation, Unica's like "Splendid. How splendid! The. Raw. Material!" whereas in the Overhaul, it's "Splendid. How splendid! Untainted material!" oh Dark Horse, u so silly~

anyway! thanks to the Overhaul's translation, I know from the last chapter of the previous volume just how fucked up Leonov's puppets are! which makes this panel that much more horrific to me!!!!! 🫠

and then, over the next several pages, we have a whole monolog by Wolfwood that is rife with context-altering translation discrepancies;;;;;

in Dark Horse, we have this:

"A man...does not change... The name remains, long after the body is no longer bound to the flesh...when the blood is drained, the muscles stripped from the bone... Nothing beautiful enters here. That's reality for ya. ' 'Til death, the outer road tastes like the outer road.' "

...okay???

in the Overhaul, it's a whole 'nother story:

"The world...doesn't change... Yer name might remain, even long after ya die...but yer ideals join ya in the grave. Nothin' good ever lasts in this world. That's just reality for ya. Ya can keep on walkin' down this road 'til ya bite the dust. Nothin' will change."

the way I see it, it's a continuation of Wolfwood's lil ideological disagreement with Vash. this monolog is how Wolfwood sees the world. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: ah, Wolfwood...spoken like a man stuck between a rock and a hard place! 🥲

yeah, weird translation discrepancy on that left speech bubble 8T

Bardle VS Border has me a bit baffled, tho. it's definitely a mistranslation of an "imported" (therefore written in katakana) word, but that's where it gets weird. I looked it up and the closest "imported" word match I could find to "border" was ボーダー (literally "bo—da—" when romanized, O pronounced as in the American English word "over" and A pronounced as in "father"). SO. I'm thinking maybe the original Japanese used ボーダール (literally "bo—da—ru" when romanized, U pronounced as in "use"), but idk. what I'd give to see this panel untranslated...

aaaaand we end the chapter with a little slapstick palate-cleanser from the girls 🤭

[vetrenar]

So... I've finally watched the new Trigun and I'm completely swept off my feet! It's so beautiful, and incredible, and I like the new character designs (though I'm a bit sad that they decided to put Milly aside. I like Roberto and I love to see his "grampy dad" dynamic with Vash and Meryl but why can't we have +1 character instead of "that one or this one") and I have SO MUCH hope for this show...

Anyway, it made me think how different from each other all parts of the franchise are:

1. OG Trigun anime. "The First One" for many, for some of whom it's always will be The Best One.

In comparison with other variants of Trigun, the old anime feels the most like a goofy "classic" tale, with a bit of melancholic vibes. Yeah, it still has its share of sad moments but mostly the corners are smoothed. With 60% of the story being filler, it generally has more light hearted tone than the original manga. Also, the characters of the anime are much closer to the... I wouldn't say "ideal", but more like "archetypal" versions of themselves. Rem was a downright angel, July's destruction didn't kill anyone (although people still fought and killed each other afterwards), the philosophical question about kill not to kill is answered with "put a bullet through each of his limbs until he can't move and hope for the best" (ok, it was a strange one. But I'm still baffled with what Vash's plan was afterwards). What's more important, Vash's ideals, while are hard to reach, don't feel impossible.

2. Manga.

Oooo, I love this one. After the old anime, I totally wasn't prepared to how much more raw, brutal and unhinged the manga is. People who ask for FMA: Brotherhood treatment for the manga seemingly forget that such an anime would have to be shown only veeery late in the night, with the "for adults only" disclaimer.

At the same time, I find the raw, honest energy of the manga absolutely beautiful and love it much, much more than the old anime because of how down-to-Earth characters are there. They may not to be ideal, but they're undoubtedly, 100% human.

Yeah, it's Rem, after her symbolic "the ticket to the future" dream.

And Knives. So much more about Knives, his motivation and determination. And unlike the anime version, where he, being the odd one from the beginning and a bit of philosophical soul, took the problem of spiders and butterflies just too far, the manga version clearly shows that it's not really about good and bad ones. It's about how, after an excessive trauma, Knives' mind went to shit and never fully returned. He was more sensitive than Vash, and more open to dialogue with humans but, when cutting wood, it's a surgical scalpel that breaks first, not a kitchen knife.

Manga Knives doesn't just make scary faces. He sincerely asks his sisters to lend him their powers and, while the level of plant's self-conciousness is arguable, I think it's won't be so far fetched to say that they do care about him.

Aaah, yeah, manga's nice little body horror...

Also, manga is much more merciless towards Vash's pacifism. While anime says "yeah, it's hard, but if you try enough you can reach it", the manga is more about "It's impossible and everyone, including you, know that. But it doesn't means that you should stop trying, because even it's impossible, it's still the path you chose for yourself". And I think that this message is much stronger and more important.

3. Trigun Stampede.

Well, it's really a dark horse, isn't it? With so many controversy about changes in characters's design, story and everything. But from what I've seen so far, I can say that, while reboot doesn't try to repeat the original - original manga, not the old anime - word to word, it stays completely in tune to its main message and Vash's emotional journey, and it's the most important thing to me. And again, it's so incredibly beautiful and well made, and I really have so much hopes for it. My only fear is that there won't be a second season announcement because there is no way that they will be able to contain everything into merely 12 episodes.

Well, we'll see. Until that, Love&Peace, everyone!

[lastoneout]

okay I said I was done but I'm not I just gotta vent but pls if you liked it you're wonderful and this is not directed at you at all, I'm just processing my thoughts, feel free to ignore me and this <3

I also just like....is that what Wolfwood is like in the manga? Bcs in the '98 anime he was way nicer?? I liked his dynamic with Vash bcs on the surface they seemed like VERY similar people but when push came to shove they had fundamental ideological differences that brought them to conflict. They would both decide to help people because they believed in helping people, they just disagreed about how sometimes. It was interesting! You don't usually see conflicts like that!!

And every time Wolfwood was an outright asshole to Vash, insulting him and being genuinely mean, or just being an open, unrepentant ass to every other person around him I was just like "He would not say that!!" bcs Anime Wolfwood was yeah, a bit of a jerk, but he was NICE!! He helped people with a smile on his face out of the goodness of his heart!! He liked hanging out with Milly and Meryl!! He was goofy like Vash!!

In Stampede he just feels like every single bitchy anime boy whos the protag's foil he's like Keith and Bakugo and Sasuke all wrapped into one boring as hell burrito I just don't get it!! He was interesting!! Unique!! Now he's bland!! What the fuck!!

I def saw the appeal in and shipped Vash//Wood after the original anime, but Tri//Stamp Vash//Wood? I can't even believe they're friends. (And trust me, that's not bcs I like Vash//Meryl more or anything bcs this version of Meryl is just as bland as ever I much prefer their dynamic in the '98 anime over this. In fact, I much prefer the four of them in an ot4 bcs the original anime really sells ya on it.)

But yeah idk if I even want to read the manga bcs the Tri//Stamp versions of these characters kinda fucking suck??? Meryl literally just exists to be confused and say what's happening, she never is given any real agency or a chance to shine, her "defining" moment was pointless and was barely given any time to breathe or have weight, she's a sexy lamp with a voice box that goes "huh, what?" every five seconds I s2g, and instead of a partner who played off of her and made sense she's saddled with Generic Drunk Anime Detective/Reporter 11 who treats her like complete shit constantly right up until he dies!!

I don't understand how this is a better version of the story. I don't understand how waiting to introduce Milly does ANYTHING for Meryl's character. She had an arc in the '98 anime that didn't start with her being a baffled plot tourist, you can have her be competent yet out of her depth AND STILL GROW FROM THERE. And maybe I'm just reaching but I cannot get over the fact that it feels misogynistic as fuck to get rid of your well-written GNC female character in favor of an asshole guy and to take your other well-written female character, who was basically the POV character and nuke everything interesting about her until she can't do anything but go "huh what?", stand up for herself exactly once by deciding to do what some other guy tells her to do, and shout Vash's name.

It's bad fucking writing.

Like Trigun '98 was such a breath of fresh air in terms of shonen character writing. Two male protags who are upbeat and goofy and earnest and sweet and want to do the right thing but struggle? Two well-written, NOT SEXUALIZED, MAIN female characters who are confident and strong and have arcs and personalities and DO IMPORTANT THINGS ON THEIR OWN WITHOUT HELP? YOU NEVER GET THAT. I think my queer ass REALLY resonated with it, these characters felt so wonderfully queer because of how much they subverted traditional gender roles, bcs of how they were more than the tropes they came from, but Tri//Stamp just shoved them back in their boxes and it honestly sucks to see.

And as a woman(more or less) I have spent my entire life acutely aware that shonen anime and manga Does Not and Will Not make space for people like me, and so seeing the ONE THAT DID get NUKED in favor of again, a new asshole and an old character who's had all of his caring, soft, "female" traits dragged out back and shot so he can be EXTRA rude and dickish is so fucking upsetting.

We don't get characters like the Milly and Meryl and Wolfwood we got in the '98 anime. We don't see subversions of gender roles and archetypes like we did in that anime. But we should. And frankly, if this is all that Tri//Stamp can bring to the table, then I am not impressed.

[shinjiist]

I love when I see soul eater AUs so much ahhhh the fact it’s not more common as an AU type is so baffling to me like soul resonance??? The bond between weapon and Miester? AHHH the dynamics! The way expectations can be subverted so perfectly- I love it

Do you have more Trigun soul eater AU ideas for like weapon and Miester pairs?

omg no bc literally like theres so much potential in sm areas w an au like this i couldn't help myself

right now I'm still straightening ideas out in my brain and I don't want things to get Too convoluted but I have a few ideas I can share rn

to answer ur question before i go on a tangent, obv vashwood are paired together though not at first (possibly considering at first vash is paired with livio ?). i think i want vash to be a meister because this presents a few opportunities for parallels between canon and the au w/ there being at least one incident beyond his control but because he's the meister he feels he holds some level of responsibility

maybe while he and livio are acquiring their witch soul something happens (maybe w/ livio's eye i truly have no idea) but they do manage to get it and vash is paired w/ wolfwood afterwards (kinda want him to be in the NOT class when he 1st enrolls if not for grades for the idea of making space so livio could get in idk how the system works ngl)(or mayb he and livio don't get it and livio decides not to be in the EAT class idk i'm not killing him off though idc idc)

other pairings i'm really not as sure about (i'm not well versed in trigunism it's just my current hyfix and i'm literally going to start trimax after this bc i oeuwgwh anyway) like i think meryl and milly would be really good w/ my limited understanding of milly's personality. i also don't want to overload this w dead-ended info and sound like that one twitter post (why's hoseok the bus driver....) but um alberto is a teacher at the DWMA during like the 2nd of 3rd yr of Vash + Nai's enrollment (i have a timeline for the lore bc they're like grown by the time canon rolls around . sorry to infodump over a single question genuinely but i can't talk abt this on twitter bc it's SCARY over there .. i'm catfishing as someone cool -guy who's failing)

also because i think vash wielding the punisher is cool as fuck cough (feat. wip i will never finish bc idfk how to draw him)

anyway though, vash as a meister also appeals to me because with nai as a weapon it quickly raises the question— why wouldn't they have just been paired together to begin with? i think that nai doesn't even test into the EAT class when they're first enrolled. maybe it's a fluke where he just needs a single point, maybe he completely bombs it, maybe it's just nerves, either way he doesn't get in and this is where he and vash find out they are not compatible as weapon and meister as much as they care about eachother

i also think that this would seed some doubt in nai's mind about how he perceives others vs how he is perceived, esp w/ a certain INCIDENT before they're enrolled in the DWMA and ohhhh i have so much i could say abt this (i accidentally centered what i wrote abt this au so far Largely abt his POV because he's always running around my skull like a hamster to a wheel he's like almond butter to me . anyway)

a little bit late but i had to sit down and dedicate myself to this post bc it needed my utmost attention but more ppl should ask me questions abt this pretty please i love talking So Bad

[orangetintedglasses]

@flutterfae-rp said: Desert for Venti (Genshin Impact) Starter Call with a Twist // new interactions, always accepting

Reports of sudden and unusual high winds east of May city have local meteorologists baffled due to the low levels of atmospheric change typical of the area. Even more bizarre is the storm-like wind levels allegedly died down nearly as quickly as they came without moving away from the remote location, though thankfully, the area is free of any civilization and no one was caught by the currently-unexplainable shift in activity--

It was always sort of difficult to navigate to the middle of nowhere, especially following after a ripple of foreign energy that was slowly dying. Vash had quickly rented a Tomas, thrown his stuff over the back of it, and cast his senses out as far as they could go to get a sense of direction.

Someone else had been dropped here from another world.

It took hours to get from the small settlement he'd been hovering around to get to the 'remote location' where the energy signature was still the strongest, and it was nearly nightfall by the time boots hit the sand again, but he was there, casting another net of awareness out to get a feel for the area.

Nothing typical to feel; a complete void, dedicated solely to the energy not native to the planet. This was definitely the place.

"Hello?" the Plant cupped his hands around his mouth as he called out, hoping to get someone's attention. "Is anyone out there?"

[dukeofriven]

So today at a friend's place my friend got me to watch the first episode of Trigun Stampede. I have never seen any Trigun, knew literally nothing about it except that the name would pop-up on TV Tropes a lot back in the day. My friend was a fan of the original and wanted to give the remake a shot. As the episode went on my friend got more and more aggravated, frequently making confused and irritated noises like a cat locked in an unheated bathroom, so that I could only surmise he wasn't enjoying the television programme. I was finding it kind of awkward and often off-putting, tiresomely sexist, and I just generally disliked its visual style (but then that's not specific to Trigun Stampede as I feel like '3D CGI' anime has yet to hit its stride—from Arpeggio of Blue Steel to Beastars the character models still feel leaden and droopy, their balance all wrong, and the framerate choices that should make them look more like tradition animation just make things look jerky.) The episode wasn't terrible, but it felt generic and forgettable, another anime that felt like I'd seen it before. After it was over my friend turned to me, ashen faced, and said 'what the fuck did they do to Trigun?' Then he made me watch the first episode of the original. It felt like watching a completely different show. It contextualized ever single choice the remake had made—and every choice it made was wrong. Where the new one felt sexist, the old one felt progressive. Where the new one felt aimless, bouncing from space opera to quasi-western, the old one had a razor-sharp sense of theme and genre. Where the new one's Vash felt like that druggie who tries to hold Bruce Willis up at the start of Fifth Element, the old Vash was a pitch-perfect balance of a guy who could ooze shonen cool one moment and then act like a total dork the next, with neither element feeling incongruous to his character. I sat there slack-jawed and baffled and began to understand why my friend had been so appalled. Why would you take an empowered female leader and make her a childish rookie? Why would you replace a fascinatingly unusual female character with an old alcoholic male asshole who spends the entire episode belittling his young female partner with misogynistic taunts? Why would you so clearly take every one of Trigun's narrative secrets and spill them all in the opening scene, then bookend the episode with a cartoonish villain playing a scary organ and all-but twirling a moustache> The original Trigun oozes confidence and charm - it feels like the sequel to Cowboy Bebop that I never knew existed, from the action sequences to the character design to the cocky assurance with which it just drops you into its world and makes no attempts to set it up for you: you are here, enjoy. Trigun Stampede seems terrified you might not instantly be invested in its deep lore so its non-stop exposition dumps from start to finish, with no mystery left by episode's end, everyone's motivation and backstory seemingly explained and squared away.

Hell, I watched the OG Trigun with its truly awful English dub and still felt riveted to the screen. I have never seen Trigun before. I have zero skin in the game, no childhood nostalgia to defend, no identity-forming anime obsession to shore-up as the backbone my existence. I give no goddamn weeb shits about Trigun. But I watched two episode of TB today: episode 1 of Trigun Stampede and the episode 1 of Trigun, and the former ditches every single element that makes the latter good. Every. Single. One. I have rarely watched a remake that seemed to so utterly and totally miss the point. If Stampede's only goal was to make me go 'man, this remake makes the original look amazing I'm going to ditch this show and watch that instead' well then it exceed. Otherwise, who the hell is this for? Why does this exist? MERYL GETS HANDLED ROUGHLY ENOUGH BUT WHAT THE SHIT DID YOU DO TO MILLY?

[lost-technology]

(KV is the second most popular ship. The number one ship is Vashwood) In the old fandom, I'd say that Vashwood was probably number 1, too, but it depended on where online you went to, some places were more Vashmeryl. Self-inserts / character x reader weren't as popular or even tolerated back then. Back in the 2000s, there were entire forums set up to make fun of people for making "Mary Sues" and "Gary Stus" and while some people knew that people doing that, especially young writers were just having fun, there was a lot of "we must stomp you into the ground for your cringe!" attitude going on then and thankfully, that has all mellowed out and people have learned NOT to try to drive teenagers to suicide because they wrote a character based on themselves fantasy-dating Harry Potter / Link of the Legend of Zelda / Goku / Vash / etc. - It is still kind of weird for someone who lived through that to see "Vash x Reader" as the third most popular ship on Ao3 ABOVE VashMeryl. (And Millywood's not even in sight. It's CANON in the '98 anime. SANDWICHES WERE EATEN)! I look at the fanfic side of the fandom today - browsing AO3 and it really seems like most people who write for Trigun there are focusing less on what Trigun actually is and are just using pretty characters as vehicles for... a lot of personal fantasies. I don't know. They're entitled to it, but I'm entitled to think it's a little weird. I honestly don't know what weirds me out more, some summary for a fic I catch a glimpse of and DON'T click on promising the reader some Knives x Vash doggie pet-play or "everyone's in a business-rivalry in competing coffee shops on Earth and there is no desert and everyone is alive and happy!" Certainly one type has a more wholesome air, but both are equally "this has nothing to do with canon" premises that are baffling to me. I've been in a lot of fandoms, including this fandom prior to new content and I think Trigun Stampede fandom (as far as fanfics, go, at least) has the greatest amount of "Let's ignore canon / worldsetting" to it and I don't know why. Character Lives AUs, yes, I UNDERSTAND those and ENJOY those! And I WRITE those! Let's make things lighter and softer? Yeah, I get it. Let's completely ignore an awesome sci-fi western setting? Not so much.

"Kill yourself" is basic. "I hope your fandom gets a new installment that is objectively a great work but also tonally dissonant from the previous ones in a way that generates a huge newbie boom of people uninterested and hostile towards the history of the franchise" is smart. It's possible. It's terrifying. It's happening right now.

[feekins]

YAAAAAAAS ON TO TRIGUN MAXIMUM!!!!!

...omg, I just opened my copy, and I forgot this was the point where my teen self started writing "Property of <redacted>" on the inside cover of all my Triguns 🥹

ANYWAY!!! let's get right into it - my thoughts and things and translation weirdness I'm finding as I re-read ch 1 of Trigun Maximum vol 1!!!

(NOTE: I'm reading the Dark Horse [physical] and the Overhaul [online] translations side-by-side)

so we've got a bit of interesting translation discrepancies right from the get-go! most of Dark Horse's wording is fine, but they weirdly changed the last block of text on the first page. and the Overhaul's translation reads so much nicer, much more good-ol'-story-like~

so anyway. here's what Dark Horse has for that first page:

From the firmament above, a blood-red eye looks down upon us.

Reminding us of the man's name...

The man's legend...

As time goes on, the tale that must be told becomes mere wagon tracks trailing into the future...

meanwhile, the Overhaul says:

Look up! Look to the firmament above! A blood-red eye looks down upon us.

And remember! Remember his name.

Remember his legend.

A tale that must be told until the end of time. The last trace of him that will live on into the future.

then, a couple pages in - when Wolfwood and the barkeep are talking about Vash - the translation discrepancies are more consequential.

Dark Horse has:

"The demon that reduced two of the seven cities to ash...

...then disappeared at Fifth Moon two years ago.

He had a $$60-million bounty on his head...the first man to be declared a natural disaster.

And the damage from that incident totaled over $$20 trillion."

the Overhaul tells a slightly different story:

"The demon that reduced two of the seven cities to ash.

They offered a bounty of $$60 billion for his head before he was declared humanity's first act of God.

He's a localized disaster with over two hundred incidents totaling over $$70 trillion in damages.

Then after the Fifth Moon incident two years ago, he disappeared from the frontier."

yyyyyeah idk why those differences are a thing, but ty Overhaul for the clarity and extra info you continue to provide!

oh, and one weird difference when Lina goes up to the bar! Dark Horse has her saying "Hey barkeep, I need a shot!" whereas the Overhaul has the more vague (and perhaps more age-appropriate) "Hey, barkeep! I need the usual!" 😆

(Dark Horse on top, Overhaul on bottom)

thanks to the Overhaul, that last panel makes a lot more sense to me =u=

(I would also like to note that on my first read-through at 14yo, I had no gotdamn clue what a lolicon was, and Dark Horse's note didn't change that;;;;;; )

(Dark Horse on left, Overhaul on right)

yeah, I like Overhaul Wolfwood more here. in this house, we don't tolerate creeps!

...Overhaul Vash is better, too. not lookin very good over there, Dark Horse, what with the way you're handling this topic... 😒

more Overhaul clarity! and I'm just. baffled. as to why Dark Horse physically altered those bottom left speech bubbles.

this will never not be one of my top fav silly Vashs - his fking foot!!!!! 🤣

this is. literally just a scream in the Overhaul. oh Dark Horse, u so silly~

another instance of context-altering translation discrepancies. the Overhaul's translation strikes me as more heart-felt, with more emotion - which is central! Trigun is a very emotional story! I want to be angry about the diluted Dark Horse translation I grew up with...but I'd rather keep singing praises to the Overhaul. I'm getting to experience a more complete story this read-through... 🥺

more subtle difference here - but, once again, the Overhaul makes more sense imo

...and it was at about this point, on just this read-through, it hit me:

Vash and Wolfwood have known each other for all of ONE BUS RIDE and ONE HOSPITAL CONVERSATION...and already, they're falling into step side-by-side to take down some baddies.

✨️das chemistry, babey✨️

and lastly, we have some more speech bubble confusion the Overhaul cleared up for me! now I understand why Wolfwood's losing his shit over there... 🤣

[lost-technology]

Those baffle me, too.  And I’m not even completely against AUs, so long as they can keep the themes going.  So years ago - talking like over a decade, an online friend of mine was writing a ‘98 anime and manga-based Trigun AU (that she later abandoned, very sadly, it was awesome).  You see, it wasn’t a pretty little flower-shop AU.  Plants in the City by Sailor_Lilithchan over on fanfiction dot yet is a “for want of a nail” type of AU that asks the question of “What if there was no Project SEEDS / no leaving of Earth?”  And then plunked every character into a setting of polluted megacity on a dying Earth, Plants existed and were a major part of the infrastructure and economy, Vash, Knives and a Tessla-who-survived are, in fact, Plants.  Rem adopted the boys and is killed in a car accident after Knives cuts the car brakes in a murder-plot that Tessla encouraged him on, if I recall correctly.  Half the chapters are narrated by Wolfwood, who is involved in both a city orphanage and shady dealings and is himself.  There is abuse of Plants and black markets for Plant-parts, just really wild stuff that’s just as angsty and science fiction as the manga, just with an Earth setting and, to me, THAT’S how you do an AU of something with science fiction and fantasy properties - KEEP the fantasy / sci-fi stuff!   I mean, yeah, when browsing fanfic, in any fandom, if it’s just a coffee shop or flower shop AU, I tend to pass it by unless its “Characters keep their species / powers” in the notes.  Why not write original slice of life or romance or something if you’re going to take away all the stuff that makes the canon cool? 

absolutely baffled by the existence of trigun college/coffee shop/flower shop type aus. like ok those aren’t my cup of tea in general but with trigun specifically i cannot fathom what could draw someone to the story enough to write fanfiction for it which would not be completely lost by changing the setting to present-day earth, removing all the violence, and making all the characters normal humans with retail jobs like how does that even work

[fractalcloning]

The EMH was, in turns, deeply grateful to be aboard such an ecclectic ship and a bit dismayed by it. His sparkling personality was truly lost on most of the crew, Data inclusive. In truth, he knew Picard on sight--it was rather difficult not to, all things considered--but he nodded along at Data's gushing. (Gushing being relative, of course, but he knew what pride looked like on the especially stoic.)

Normally, Data's assessments of the situation were truly top notch. He was direct, to the point, and didn't waste a single iota of anyone's time dithering about. The Doctor really, truly appreciated that about him, even if his dry witicisms often sailed over their de-facto Captain's head. The scanner completed its work as Data stepped away and retrieved a console but, extraordinarily, the results of the scan conflicted with Data's assessment.

"Hm. That's going to be a challenge," The EMH replied and leaned to one side to engage the halo on the biobed. It closed over the girl and commenced with another scan.

"What? Why?" Picard asked after a beat, his brow already dipping with concern. Had she truly injured herself? Had she crashed terribly-- "Well, the first problem is: she's not an android," the hologram informed them both. "She is," Picard instantly assured him, his surprise evident. "Isn't." "I can assure you--" "I'm sorry," the hologram snapped and glowered, clearly offended at being so blatantly disagreed with. He promptly held out the handscanner and Picard could do little but take it from him. Waspishly the hologram added: "I wasn't aware you'd gotten your MD. Did you pick it up as a retirement hobby? Ambitious of you." "Pardon me?" Picard was finding he didn't care for this EMH. Then again, he'd never really been very fond of any of them. They were efficient and invaluable, but he much preferred human doctors. He cast aside his affront as the Doctor moved around the biobed. Dahj was bathed in the greenish light of the Romulan scanner and they watched in real-time while it did its work. As the computer imaged her, a holographic representation formed above her, slice by slice. As it compiled, the Doctor reached up to the hologram and pulled it apart into vertical layers--each one displayed an organic system in impressive detail.

"As I was saying," the EMH continued as the biobed halo concluded its deep scans. He gestured to the display and looked from Picard to Data. "That's a genuine, red blooded, dyed in the wool, human woman."

"That's not possible," Picard disagreed as he read through the handheld's results, confusion clear on his face. Every reading on the screen disagreed with him, as did every reading on the biobed's display. Romulans might not be the most advanced when it came to medical technology, but there were precious few species with more developed scanning capabilities. "These readings aren't right," Picard tried to explain and the Doctor huffed a sigh. "Are you implying that, on a ship of exclusively synthetic organisms, we just let the scanners break?" the EMH asked, his tone shifted to employ as much patience as he was capable of. He was cantankerous, certainly, but even he could muster some traditional professionalism when necessary. "Your assessment is erroneous," Data interjected and that, at least, seemed to have some weight. The Doctor gave him a curious but longsuffering look and interacted with the holographic representation of Dahj again.

"Shocking, I know," he began. "but she hasn't got anything that would indicate she's an android--she has no identifiable implants of any kind, no nanoprobes, no ports, no power supply, she's pristine. She hasn't so much as broken a bone in her life. She's hale and whole--except for some surface dermal abbrasion and a cut beneath her hairline, neither of which are mortal concerns." "I don't understand," Picard admitted, absolutely baffled, and set the handheld aside on the bed. "I've seen this girl leap ten meters, watched her disarm and disable ten Zhat Vash assassins. She can move faster than I can see--?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Maybe she does taekwondo?" The EMH stepped back and made space for Picard to circle the bed. He did, as the space opened, and immediately began tabbing through the biobed halo. Every reading was normal, even nominal--the technology couldn't be faulty, and there was no way a Romulan military grade scanner was simply wrong, so how was she doing it? Picard looked to Data as though he might have an answer.

"Could she be giving off false readings? A falsifying RFID, perhaps to allow her to appear human on scans? Is that possible?" Picard asked and, despite not being the one to whom the question was addressed, the Doctor answered.

"There's a good, old-fashioned test for that, as well," the EMH said and retrieved a hypo from a nearby rack. The tool had a fine layer of dust that he shook off as he returned to the bedside. Then, as casual as you please, he pressed it up against the line of Dahj's neck, just along her juggular. The tool hissed and the vial filled with blood, or a liquid functionally indistinguishable from it. Picard stared, flummoxed, and a creeping doubt tried to gain foothold in his mind. He quashed it--Dahj was clearly synthetic. It was simply a question of how. "If you want a second opinion, I'm sure Soteria or a dozen of the AI floating around the computer would be happy to analyze this sample," the Doctor said once the vial was half-full. He pulled it away from Dahj's neck and ejected the vial from the device. Picard watched it but, even without a scanner, he recognized it--the viscocity, the film it left, the way it moved in the container, it was blood.

"Remarkable," Picard muttered and glanced at Data's console, across the bed from him. "Can you connect to her?" Surely on a ship with so many synthetic beings of such different makes and models--

"While I'm happy to entertain this hypothetical," the EMH interrupted again, this time with some concern. He had intended to go place the sample in the scanner but the shift of conversation stopped him mid-step. "I should point out that she has nothing even remotely like an access panel. I'm all for testing, but I must put my foot down before someone suggests surgical intervention." "What? Of course not!" Picard replied, aghast and the EMH was taken aback by the force of his refusal. Despite the sharpness in Picard's tone, the EMH seemed to wholeheartedly approve of the iron-clad rebuke. "I am, however, quite satisfied with your "assistance." If you don't intend to to be helpful, kindly remain quiet." The EMH's brows rose approvingly. He looked Picard over briefly and clucked his tongue again. His estimation of Picard seemed higher for being yelled at, as absurd as that was. "Now, now, Helpful is my middle name," the EMH countered but this time, with considerably more politesse. He looked to Data, his argumentative streak set aside, and searched for confirmation. "You're both positive, then, that she's somehow synthetic?" "We are," Picard confirmed with as much firmness and authority as he had available. The Doctor folded his arms and tapped the sample vial idly against his opposing forearm. He was (blessedly) silent for a span, his expression thoughtful. He was still in a way that spoke volumes about the sheer amount of information he was parsing through. Picard might not have liked EMHs, but he couldn't deny that they were a formidable database. "If I was an android…and was hellbent on passing as a human," the Doctor muttered and his head bobbed just slightly back and forth. It was a human mannerism he'd clearly adopted and it was uncannily convincing. "Hmm….Ah! I've got it." "You do?" "Well, no, not exactly, but I think there are a few arcane techniques we could employ here that will confirm your impossible hypothesis," the EMH replied and glanced up at the ceiling. "Soteria, my dear, I don't suppose we have the materials on hand for a magnetic resonance scanner?" Before the computer could answer the Doctor huffed. "Of course we don't--we might as well keep an iron maiden onboard, we'd get just as much use out of it. How about…heavy electromagnetic dampening? Hm? I don't suppose we're equipped for that but, given how Romulans feel about technology, if any ship would have something--" "Will that harm her?" "Hm?" The hologram seemed surprised by the question. "No, it's harmless to humans--ah, right. Fair point." Unfortunately, after ceding that, his frown deepened. After a moment, he looked to Data and, somewhat apologetically, admitted: "This may exceed the limits of my vast medical library. Unless they've suddenly repealed the Shenzhen Conventions and the Geneva Protocols, I have no idea how you would hide an android inside a human." He sighed. "We may require a specialist."

If there was someone he confided in unconditionally, it would be Picard; he had supported him where others had questioned his autonomy, he had defended him where others had objected to the validity of his capabilities, he had demanded reverence and equality where others had patronised and degraded him. And, as his superior, Data had seldom, if ever, challenged Picard's decisions, his intuition, his years of experience, and therefore, the claim that he was convinced that Dahj was the android's daughter, which had yet to be confirmed by empirical data, somehow made sense to him — he trusted him. Besides, he saw no logic in someone creating an android that was the facsimile of his painting titled "Daughter", but subsequently not relating her to him. He could only hope the test would pop up positive, because regardless of his good intentions, zeal and determination, he could not replicate an other Soong-type android, despite being one himself. He could repair others and fashion substitute components, but constructing a live specimen from scratch seemed to be beyond his comprehension, his abilities. Perhaps he required the one thing he had never fully mastered: humanity and all its nuances that were, and always would be, lost to him. He supposed it would be a consolation to humanoids to know that despite their independence, AI still relied on human expertise and inventiveness, impulsiveness to build stable and sentient androids — at least, for now...

With this newly harvested information, Data focused on Dahj again and without engaging in supplemental ambivalences regarding her origin, scooped her up in his arms, carrying her like a father would his child who had claimed they could stay up late but practice proved the contrary.

'This way, sir,' Data said, having risen to his full height and exited the transporter room with Picard in his wake.

The infirmary was vacant, as could be expected on a ship where androids and digital AI constituted the ship's complement. Fortunately, the lack of organic patients did not render the EMH less accommodating — cranky, for sure, but he was still as helpful as he had been during his time serving aboard Voyager.

The scathing remark the EMH spat at Picard caused Data to make an oh-dear,-here-we go-again face, but discontinued the expression when the holographic doctor diverted his attention to him. Although Data respected the sentient and emotional capable computer simulated physician, his sarcasm and acerbity was still situated far beyond the boundaries of Data's comprehension and made it a challenge to communicate with him; data always struggled to navigate his way through their conversations when the Doctor embarked on one of his infamous caustic rampages — Lore, on the other hand... Fortunately, the EMH's proficiency and expertise in his field and the general knowledge he had accumulated during his time on Voyager had aided them on multiple occasions.

'I was not planning to turn the retrieval of organics into a recurring behavioural pattern,' the android assured him as he carefully unloaded his arms. 'But this is my former Captain: Captain Jean-Luc Picard,' he added with a tinge of sincere veneration, of esteem, audible in his voice and visible in the way he glanced up at Picard. 'And as for your patient, she is... an android. We should run a diagnostic on her systems to determine whether she is malfunctioning — it appeared that an emotional overload destroyed her synthetic epidermal layer. And in addition, I will run a program of my own to establish whether we are related or not.'

Data temporarily abandoned the Romulan biobed to produce the equipment necessary to conduct his examination and engaged the console — Soteria's code flashed, unobtrusively, on the terminal screen, reporting for duty, should he require her assistance.

[punisheye]

The more this guy talks, the more irritated Wolfwood gets, and he's already pretty damn irritated. Just overall completely on edge, because this entire situation is far beyond anything he's ever dealt with and he's still trying to cope with the fact he remembers dying.

It's all so... fucking... annoying!!!

What is he even talking about? If Wolfwood were a little less baffled and agitated, he might have tried to use the whole "owing" him thing to his advantage, but right now...

"What stupid shit are ya sayin' now?!"

One hand lands on this guy's—Vash's?—shoulder and he gives him a firm rattling.

"Yeah, yeah, yer definitely him, if he fuckin' shrunk a foot and— what's with yer hair?!"

He's still shaking him.

"What kinda game are ya playin' here? Don't piss me off!"

It's meant to be a threat, sort of, but there isn't a lot of real energy behind it. Right now, he just looks perplexed and tired.

"Hi!" he chirps happily, unflinching. Oh, okay, now things were coming together.

He'd heard of the name before a few times—initially the message from a Nicholas D. Wolfwood caused a vague degree of alarm, given that Knives had made sure to slowly emphasize the hire's name for whatever reason? But Meryl had also mentioned Wolfwood as someone he'd worked with to save the Bernadelli reporters. That, and…!

"Jeez, has it been that long? You're huge now!" The guy did have the same face, voice, and plain wooden cross to lug around. So there was a chance this was the same guy, sort of? It's completely left the Stampede's head to think about the difference between his own predecessor and himself—and that this guy was pretty close to the same height. He'll get there.

"Hey. Glad you're all healed up and rehydrated, pal, but, um. If this is about the 'loooot of money' I owe ya, or how I owe you for saving me here, well. Bad news. I'm still as broke as the last time we met."

[orangetintedglasses]

. . . h-huh? They... really?

"Wait, you were behind that? I saw them double back and turn around like ten minutes before I got here!" he heard them, too, someone calling out that he'd gone 'this way!' and leading the hunters in a completely different direction. It'd been confusing, but ultimately helpful. "All so you could get me with the squeaker?"

Vash wasn't incredulous or angry in the slightest, he was mostly just... baffled. The Worm didn't seem like the type to really wanna help him-- at least, they hadn't when they'd first met. Then again, they hadn't seemed like the type to do... well. Any of this. You really couldn't judge a book by it's cover, could you?

"Mhm, avoid the other half of the city for a bit. I don't think the bounty hunters over there are interested in sneaking. Lucky you someone confused the directions when rumors started and they're going to think they missed you entirely." Zazie's voice is a little lower, nicely under the volume of the restaurant, and a smug smirk tilts their lips. They might not have started the whispers of Vash's presence but they absolutely used them to turn the bounty hunters in circles, chasing their tails like idiots.

"Can't have you getting mobbed while I'm trying to pull a prank, that would be just rude." They're not above being helpful first in order to be annoying later.