#tristamp liveblog

[lotus-mirage]

Trigun Stampede episode 4 liveblog!

I had a bit of a double take at “plant-based meat”.  Come to think of it, are there any actual plants on this planet? Or are they talking about eating the irreplaceable technology that sustains them...?

Welp, there’s Wolfwood.  Wearing that big old gun cross.  Thing.

lmao that’s not a very dignified first look at the guy

Interesting that there’s only seven cities when they seem to be named after calendar months.

Actually huh. I wonder how big this world is anyway.  It feels like it should be pretty small, especially with the number of cities, but I have no idea how big those cities could be.

Those are worms?????

Also another kinda bacteria-looking thing after the bombs, huh.

NEVERMIND WHAT I SAID ABOUT THAT BEING AN UNDIGNIFIED FIRST LOOK. guy just went flying :0c

and now he’s just flopping around in the backseat.  fantastic. no notes.

Plant... outpost? wonder what this is.

Wait Wolfwood is like. actually religious? I kinda thought it was just symbolism.  I can’t believe he’s actually religious and lugging around a big cross on his back.  I can’t tell if that’s delusions of self-importance or just... dweebery.

...drinking from what may or may not be holy water.  My guy. I understand resources are low.

Oh it keeps going.

...I do not believe this man is ordained.

Okay “undertaker”... may check out more?? I have no idea what they might be expected to know in a historical or modern day setting, let alone space-fantasy. I wouldn’t expect them to have access to holy water though?

Actually wait I need to google the difference between undertaker and gravedigger.

Nevermind, they probably do! Alright then. 

okay all that aside - what is happening with the background music here??? It’s unexpectedly unsettling, kind of.

Okay I switched audio languages briefly to see if the additional religious allusions in like every line from Wolfwood was also reflected in the Eng dub (even more blatant actually) and got hit with “You did get hit by big-ass truck, after all,” which was unexpected enough to make me stop and laugh out loud.

Speaking of which I was kind of expecting them to gloss over that given the cartoony nature of that whole sequence, but huh.

ah jeez what now

...we’re going Dune now?? Alright, okay.

the bug things are also Worms?

“detached electrons” I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. That sounds like it’d cause chemical reactions, which doesn’t look to be the case?

“tool of the trade” as a gun or as a reusable grave marker?

oookay eating the weird glowy bug alive and raw. I mean I guess if they’re Worms, we know they’re edible like that, but uh.  yikes.

assassins that control Worms, huh. that sounds like a lost technology thing, presumably

“I can see it in his eyes” yeah yeah okay lay it on a little thicker oh my god

Roberto vanished while they were having a moment! I’m honestly sure if that was an intentional comedy moment lol

okay my prediction is either another bug or a more worm-looking Worm

there is also like barely any liquid, there is no way digestion is happening that fast

OH LMAO is that what’s been happening!? They’ve just been getting launched??

Okay nvm that doesn’t make much sense and also they’d be less likely to survive it than these two I guess

Ooh I really want to see the Worm’s whole design

I guess that makes sense that is an incredibly acrobatic child.

okay yeah that looks like it’d cause rapid digestion

oh yuck the floor

the cross gun has a fucking skull on it. I don’t have words.

it’s a machine gun

oooh that is a really cool creature design!

so like.  is the kid also a Worm or do they just have some sort of power/technological control over them?

it’s a machine gun that also shoots lazers

it also decently high-tech, but still not entirely sure where it falls in terms of technology type

side note, the consistent mild back-and-forth between Meryl and Wolfwood is great

and now the thing about deserving to eat is linked back to the deserving to cry thing from last episode. great. fantastic. ow.

come to think of it, why are they still travelling with Vash?  just cause they got lumped with him after the last episode, or after more info...?

okay I honestly expected the kid and Wolfwood to actually be two different factions. It makes sense but now I want to know if there are more groups out there.

hold up. narration??

okay. red glowing tubes with characters I can’t read.  that’s not an aesthetic that we’ve seen in this show yet I think?

“the gate that allows access to the higher dimension.” the WHAT

I guess this has to be the ‘Gate’ Knives mentioned last episode, but also higher dimension, what

“his morality and ethics are acting as a defensive measure” ???

oh wait no it is Knives’ group. huh.

those look like plants in the background, but all of them are red.  was it the blue one that was having trouble, then? I assumed blue = alive and red = dead, but that may not be the case.  they’re also markedly smaller than the ones in the town.

“more human than anyone” uhhhhhh not sure I agree with that on principle, but I get what they’re saying. sure, I guess.

lmao wolverine claws

End notes:

Hmm, not sure where to start! First off, I think pacing/tonal issues were more or less entirely absent from this episode! nice.

I think that’s our entire party assembled, aside from Millie, who as I understand it is less of a key figure in TriStamp so far, but not so in other versions?? Anyway.  Nice!  I think they did a good job of establishing the dynamics between the different characters.

I guess the main thing to really speculate on is the Gate thing.  So far seems like simultaneously a physiological thing and a psychological thing. He’s had it for a while, but can’t control it (isn’t aware of it?), but it’s a way to access a higher dimension, but it’s also affected by his state of mind.

Not much by way of explaining the key antagonists or their goals, other than now we have... I guess half a goal? Maybe a step in the process.

Step 1: Collect Plants

Step 2: Utilize Vash’s Gate, allowing access to a higher dimension

Step 3: ???

Step 4: Profit      

[alcordraws]

Some thoughts I wrote down during my English dub rewatch. Have I mentioned how much I love the expressions in this show??

[graham--folger]

ohhhh wolfwood really does haunt the narrative doesn't he. i feel normal about that

[anachronistic-falsehood]

OH THE ENDING!!! THAT WAS SO GOOD OH MY GOD!!! v different from the manga but still very satisfying and i love it in a completely different way from the manga ending. like. there’s no timeskip, there’s no “what will happen in the future???” type thing. it’s just. they are here, in the present, they are hopeful, and they will figure things out somehow. things may work out or they may not. who knows!! but they’ll figure it out anyway. and that’s what matters <3

[floof-ghostie]

Knives Millions, when I catch your ass you will pay for everything you have done

[quippip]

how can i love and peace in these FUCKING conditions

[agnesandhilda]

the horrors are unending :3 but we stay silly

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

OH HELLO KNIVES.

[song-of-the-rune]

lol wolfwood's pretty great

[lotus-mirage]

[TriStamp liveblog]

Okay, episode 1!

Hmm alright so a lot of that was established in the first five minutes anyway.  Overall benefit for me, but a little funny.

“Noman’s Land” as a planet name is a little bit on the nose, lol

The expressions are really well done, wow.

Aaaand only one of the ‘corpses’ has primary colors, that’s also kind of funny

...creepy laughter was not the first thing I expected to hear from Vash, I will be honest.

why is the sequence of him being beaten up so long omg

are there non-lethal bullets in this world? isn’t Vash specified to be brought in alive? this seems poorly thought out.

...oh.  rocket launcher.  no kill like overkill I guess. alright.

Vash: actually I’m gonna take a moral stand here, this is dumb

JuLai officer: you wanna see dumb? I have a cluster bomb launcher and an itchy trigger finger

alright this is acknowledged as not being what they’re supposed to be doing! o7

this is an interesting slide between comedy to ethical debate back to comedy.

solidly back in comedy again, alright.

I can see why all of those compilation videos of just Vash making noises have enough material.  

Character moment is interesting and good set up! However, focusing on the bug-bird this much actively distracted me.  I want to know more about the bug-bird.  Please.

Ah. Maniacal laughter runs in the family, I see

Unhinged and over-the-top enough to loop back around to menacing.  Alright!!

...Piano now????? I thought that was definitely a later episode.  

Yeah there is absolutely not enough time for anything more than a teaser, okay.

...???? what kind of outfit is that.  Why is he wearing that.  Nevermind he’s goofy again.

Sit down while playing my guy that hurts to watch.  Dude.

Look I knew Knives’ name but genuinely I had to stop and laugh there again.  ohhhh my god that’s so goofy.

Okay that statue(?) above the piano is horrifying.  Wow.

...I thought it was gone in the next shot and was like ‘oh I hate that’.  Nope, still there, still horrifying.

Okay end notes!!

I can’t quite tell what genre this is trying to be.  It fluctuates so much and even things that I think are trying to be dramatic are so over-the-top that I am not entirely sure about it!

I should clarify that none of this is putting me off.  I prefer when media takes itself a little too seriously actually. Also goofiness is generally kind of charming.

The animation here is just really wonderful.  I don’t really have much to say about it other than that.  Just consistently made me stop and go ‘oh wow that was really well done.’

My guess is the story is going to be a bit episodic for a while, but frankly I have no idea.

I think that’s all I really have to say at the moment! I enjoyed this a lot, but may have to put off watching anything else until at least tomorrow due to a bit of a headache.

[alcordraws]

It's actually so devastating watching vash's relationship with food go sour. He shouldn't need it but he does. Rem never made him feel shame for it, but it's still brought up enough that it starts making him uncomfortable. He's a plant who can't produce. He's a plant who consumes. Consuming in trigun is connected to autonomy, at least the way I've come to read it in Stampede. Sometimes, the only times that vash feels like he has control is when he chooses not to eat, when he can use it to punish himself for a perceived failure. The show is so clear in showing vash and his relationship with food, from being a child excited for birthday cake to going days without food because he shouldn't need it and he doesn't deserve it.

[graham--folger]

alright nobody told me shit about legato's backstory holy fuck okay i understand his dedication to knives now goddamn

[rivthewriter]

time for the favorite things ive said in this powerpoint so far.

back to working on my powerpoint that is just ALL OF TRIGUN here's a slide from it

[anachronistic-falsehood]

oh theyre in love for sure

[floof-ghostie]

Oh Vash's bother needs to DIE die

[applepi00]

9 people you would like to get to know better

Tagged by @subdee hii Dee, it’s been a while!

3 ships:

Soukoku- what else would I put here? They’re dysfunctional and hyper functional simultaneously, I can project with much of my usual themes onto them easily. Plus, y’all, the gender bent art lately has been so good.

Vashwood- latest obsession, I finished trimax (and 98, and tristamp) recently and as everyone that recommended it to me guessed, Vash is my exact type and wow recognition of the self and whatnot lol. But seriously when do I ever turn down a good catholic guilt character or a character with unnecessary guilt?

Trephacard- polyamourous dnd trio my beloved, could’ve been so good but the show did not agree with me (also the last two seasons were not nearly as good and look I wasn’t even considering ships for this show as things that could happen until season three so I was vibing in my own little world)

First ship: okay I was an x reader / x oc girlie until I was fourteen or so I’m not sure? Ichigo/Kisshu maybe when I was six watching Tokyo Mew Mew, Ten/Rose maybe when I got to middle school? I don’t really remember 😅

Last Song: Last hope, by Paramore! It’s in both my Saoirse playlist AND her joint playlist for her and her ex girlfriend even though I didn’t remember putting it in either!

Last Movie: Oppenheimer I think, no I haven’t seen Barbie

Currently Reading: it’s fall again so, The unabridged journals of Sylvia Plath!

Currently Watching: nothing at the moment! I’m thinking I either have to finish my liveblog of Utena, or watch revue starlight.

Currently Craving: hmmm chats with friends I think, I put my mom to sleep yesterday taking about my interests, my friends at least keep up with me lol

Tagging (if you want!): @humanis-i @blindblossom @chubsthehamster @feralrookie @idlenight @macavitykitsune @valoniel @nautilusopus