#and that livio dedicated his cause to wolfwood

[lemongogo]

the whole dynamic btwn livio and vash post ww death makes me want 2 lose it

[pancake-breakfast]

Oh, good. I'm glad I have time for a couple more chapters because I wasn't too keen on having to stop where I did last night.

Stream-of-consciousness thoughts for TriMax Vol. 8, Chapters 3-4 below.

Chapter 3: Counter Attack!!

CW: Body horror?

Who in the heck is even capable of launching a reasonable counterattack here? Vash would have to get free, Eye of Michael and/or the leftover Gung-Ho Guns would have to care.... Do the people at Home know something we readers don't? (I mean, they probably know a lot we don't, but still.)

Ah, yeah, looks like Home is doing stuffs.

Heh, Home is equally skeptical of counterattacks, I see.

So, basically, it sounds like their plan is to cause enough trouble for Vash to appear somehow. I wonder if any of these folks actually know (or even suspect) where Vash is. They could really use Wolfwood right now.

Oh, man. Meryl really did get a huge dose of Vash's memories, didn't she? She looks pretty grim about it.

Forty men chasing Knives anywhere sounds like a trap set by Knives.

Awww, flashback Vash! Look at that floofy blond hair! He's not even wearing glasses! He's just... Vash.

It feels like this is a mixture of Luida telling the story in the present and panels showing the flashback. If I were to take a wild guess, this one panel is actually young Luida wanting to chase after Vash.

Man, Luida's sharp. She's gambling all of this on what she knows of Vash.

THE PLANT SMILED. GOSHDARNIT, STOP PRETENDING THEY'RE UNAWARE AND NOT SENTIENT TO SOME DEGREE!!! SHE SMILED BECAUSE SHE WAS THANKED!! Always remember to thank your Plants, people.

Yeah, take THAT memory, Knives! Your weird vat of sisters is fighting back in their own way.

WTF, did the plants project that vision?? Did Wolfwood see it, too?

Uhhhh, that ship seems to have grown some... appendages....

Dang, look at that crazy old military plane. That's probably some fancy-pants tech for them.

Knives, honey, you look like a mess.

The Plants really are fighting back, aren't they?

LOL, this panel, though.

!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOLFWOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!L;KJA;LFJAL;KSJDFL;KAJFHA

Chapter 4: Escape

CW: Blood, body horror

Hells yes! Let's get to escaping!

I mean, seven months of restraining Vash with very little in terms of breaks would drain anyone. And it's not like Knives cares if he's burning through his most loyal and dedicated underling.

Vash looks exhausted.

Ohh, this could go poorly....

Heh. Can't hold 'em both, Legato.

"Everything's different when I'm back to back with him."

Dang, as tired as he is, Vash is showing incredible control over his own abilities.

That's right, carry your man out of there, Wolfy.

Ugh, Livio! Now is not the time!!!

Ah, they're on the path to the orphanage. No wonder Wolfwood's desperate enough to try moves like this.

LIVIO!!! NOW. IS NOT. THE TIME!!!!

Dammit, Livio's not alone, either.

No thoughts. Just pain.

Aww, is that... little Livio? He really was just a twink.

Ugh, this is so beautiful and painful. I love his prayers. They're so simple and heartfelt.

VAAAAAAASH!!! SAVE YOUR MAN!!!

Oh, man. Something something about Vash being the one to answer Wolfwood's prayer. Wolfwood, you are deeply beloved by a literal angel.

Mini angel arm! Angel finger!

Vash just spitting their words back at them. He doesn't have the patience for this after seven months of suffering.

Oh, shit. It's Knives.

I think Elandira's got it figured out.

I think Knives' plan wasn't very well thought out. Chances are this is gonna mess with Knives' sense of self. Actually, that's probably why so many people saw that vision. If he's got their memories in him and he already exudes weird Plant aura even when asleep, then chances of him accidentally exuding a memory like that are high.

Yeah, they all underestimated how far Vash will go to save people. A person. It could just be one person. That person doesn't even need to be as close to him or have done as much for him as Wolfwood has. His body is a testament to how far he'll go to save others.

Knives looks like he might have realized he done fucked up. Or, at the very least, that his plan's about to fall apart royally.

And for once, Vash is in full control of his angel arm even at full power like that.

Gods, I love his cheeky little smirk here. Elandira's telling him to stop, and he's just like, "Make me."

Ohhhh, he reversed it to get them out of there! Now they just have to... uh... survive falling all the way to the ground, I guess.

Knives isn't thrilled about this, I see.

Dude. IDK what's going on here anymore, but it's gross and scary.

It's over? Bullshit, this is only volume 8.

Archive

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

TriMax Vol. 1: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 2: Covers + 1, 2-4, 5, 6-7 || Vol. 3: Covers + 1-3, 4-5, 6-7 || Vol. 4: Covers + 1-2, 3-5, 6-7 || Vol. 5: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 6: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 7: Covers + 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 || Vol. 8: Covers + 1-2

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

[hiveswap]

I've been thinking a lot more about the implications of a parallel like this between Wolfwood and Knives and honestly i'm going a little insane.

Their whole thing is defending their family. Knives is a man deeply affected by childhood trauma, who wants to liberate his sisters from the abuse of humans and wants to keep his brother safe, also from humans. It's just that he wants to do it in a selfish, controlling way that deprives all of them of their autonomy and hurts others along the way.

What do his actions lead to? The entire backstory of Wolfwood, a man deeply affected by childhood trauma, who wants to save the orphanage he lived at as a child from abuse under Knives' hand, and wants to save his brother from the same thing. Knives effectively caused the exact thing to happen to others that he was trying to fix in his own family.

Neither of them know their brothers at this point, not really. Knives and Vash separated lifetimes ago. Wolfwood hasn't had a full, calm conversation with Livio since he vanished as a child, he doesn't even know about Razlo. They've both changed a lot.

Their brothers still love them despite this, even if Knives is a creep for the majority of the story. In Vol14, he's only at peace enough to die when he sees that Vash has woken up and will be fine.

LR and Vash are both defined in a huge part by their dedication to a "mission" from a person they've looked up to since childhood. Chapel is a manipulative dick of course, but he was the only person they believed they had, of course they'll stay loyal. As for Rem, she really was the only person Vash had as a child, other than Knives. Carrying out her legacy by keeping humanity alive is the thing that kept him alive for 140 years.

This is the post i meant btw, it sums it up in a way less messy way than i just did. i kind of described it wrong though, it doesn't say ww sees livio in vash

Vol9 chapter 4 / Vol12 chapter 8

I saw a post the other day explaining how Wolfwood and Livio are a parallel to Knives and Vash, (and how Vash and Wolfwood see a "better" version of their sibling in each other) but i can't find it anymore. I didn't think it was that explicitly called out in canon