#we read/watch trigun

[echidnana]

started watching trigun and good lord vash is the character ever. also gfs merylmilly are everything to me

[m-kyunie]

kneeling for prayer at the alter of You

[faeriedoodles]

Love! And! Peace!

+ doodles I did (ft. @gnawe)

[threegunbrainrot]

yall wolfwood is so silly goofy in the manga

i'm still not all that far in, but compared to both tristamp and '98, he's so expressive and goofy. sociable as hell, too. he's so upfront kind with everyone, so long as they're not hostile.

he's just like. a complete mess of a man that i'm totally digging lol

he's emotional. he's dramatic. he's a brand new flavor of babygirl all on his own- completely unlike every other rendition of him

he's still got his moments of being a serious, brooding figure, but they're kinda rare honestly. more than anything, he's just Chilling. having drinks, striking up conversations, etc.

it's been awhile since i watched 98 trigun, but i remember that iteration of wolfwood being similar, but more serious overall. he still joked around and had this hilarious funky conman energy, but he still doesn't feel as emotional as trimax wolfwood.

and tristamp ww is basically a completely different person. someone who's pretty much always serious, though still has rare moments of... almost sarcastic/forced positivity. when he jokes around, it's always like there's something else behind it- like when he made that jab at elendira or tried to force-feed meryl bug guts lmao. he's still having fun, yeah, but it's all kinda muted.

idk, it's just interesting to see him so expressive- especially after engaging with fanon ww so much and seeing him portrayed as stoic and brooding all the time. and i wanna clarify that i adore all iterations of wolfwood's personality, all for different reasons. it's just interesting to compare them

...tho his loss of melanin is a crime befitting death. his nose, too. they STOLE from him. what did he do to deserve this.

[EDIT] it's also come to my attention thanks to a lovely someone in the tags who pointed out that trimax wasn't finished when 98 was being made. that changes things! glad i know that now.

[orcelito]

a note for people who may not have noticed this:

at the start of chapter one, we get this view of Vash's wanted poster. notice that bit there about the murder of "Count Revenant Vasquez"

and then in trimax chapter 37, we see here:

Count Revenant Vasquez.

That's Conrad.

now the interesting bit is that Conrad hasn't died by the time we see that wanted poster. he's currently busy working to revive Knives, then follows him around once he's alive again. for Whatever Reason, Vash is being blamed before Conrad's death for his "murder"

which makes me contemplate a few possibilities. Conrad was present around the time of the July Incident. and not only that, but we see in chapter 28 that Vash was looking for him just prior to July

so like, What's The Deal? "Count Revenant Vasquez" is not "dead" by this point, just acting oddly in his big house. perhaps after July with his disappearance, people attributed his "death" to Vash, along with all the rest of July... but why would they focus on just him, rather than all of July? is this Nightow wanting to keep the reality of July under wraps this early in the story? or was Conrad really That socially important that his death would stand out among all the rest of July?

and another thing to consider is how Vash knew to look for him under that name in the first place. Vash was pursuing Knives at this point, the whole Point was that he managed to find Knives in July, but he did it by following the trail of Conrad. he met Conrad when he was a child, the second human he ever met, so maybe he somehow managed to deduce that Conrad was helping Knives out?

except when Vash sees Conrad in trigun chapter 20

he recognizes him, but he can't place from where. is this his July amnesia getting in the way? the general passage of time? it HAS been a century and a half since he officially met him. but if he knew to look for him by that name to find Knives, he must have known Conrad was following him around... and then perhaps as part of the amnesia of everything surrounding July, Vash forgot Conrad too.

it's interesting! brings the question of how Vash caught wind of Conrad's involvement with Knives in the first place. we do see that Vash has his fingers in information networks (like when he talks to the "shoemaker" in May City to try to gather information), so maybe that's how he found out? which honestly I find fascinating, given that Especially this early in the story, we just see Vash acting the fool. but even Years prior to the start of the story, he shows a level of resourcefulness and intuition that is Very much not congruent with his act of being a "fool".

and then he shows up to confront Knives in July and his plan is to just

show up, point his gun at him, and then... ???? something? which obviously blows up in his face in a MAJOR way bc Knives easily knocks him out & then has Conrad experiment on him.

which. isn't directly related to the Conrad point lol it just baffles me how smart yet dumb Vash is constantly. high intelligence, low wisdom build for SURE.

but yeah! I didn't notice the Count Revenant thing my first read through, so here's this detail for anyone else who might've missed it like i did

[thesoftestmess]

maybe if vash and nai combined the singular trauma-riddled braincell they each have left and met somewhere in the middle between "religious cult working towards the genocide of humanity" and "absolute submission to our oppressors and the colonisers of our people's land" we would've gotten somewhere

[snakegentleman]

I think it’s kind of silly to insist that Trigun Stampede is bad when I and many people I know/ know of have gotten into Trigun because of it. It obviously stands on its own if plenty of people are watching it without knowing the source material and after reading the manga, Orange is clearly pulling from the source material heavily even if it is different. So many people are caught up in comparing it to the manga/98 anime that they can’t just enjoy it for what it is: a good show. Tristamp isn’t trying to be a recreation of the original, so stop judging it like it is.

[isaei]

just saw the most psychologically damaging comment about wolfwood i need a drink and i don't even drink

[chotachica]

Also today my bf and I are officially starting tristamp !!! and I'll start also reading the manga bc yeah autism won sorry guys

[koipalm]

im really glad i have not read the original trigun because i would probably have a lot of nostalgia for it.... but right now i am just enjoying the hell out of whatever trigun stampede is showing me

[aritimena]

five stages of Bink’s Sake:

1. what is that audio of Uta One Piece singing a sea shanty?

2. fuck yeah Bink’s Sake

3. Hey it’s in the Netflix show :D!!!

4. Brook’s Backstory…

5. ah fuck it’s in my head forever now

[echidnana]

I think vash and knives are heavily implied to be trans like all the other plants are "female" so like. transgender

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

HSHDKDJFJSDDJFK SORRYYYYYYY im. so fucking glad u are liking it so far though omg.. yeah.yeah the OH GOD. ITS ABOUT FUCKED UP SIBLINGS???? moment is... augh. bouncing around the room at unheard of speeds abt it!!! anyway giving u a hot mug of cinnamon hot cocoa catkiss.gif. also. any thoughts u have so far? 👀👀

DUUUUDE . ok. i have so many thoughts. ok

its about fucked up siblings!!!!!!!!!!!! thats so upsetting to me i love sibling relationships in media i have not even seen current grownup knives but i desperately want them to talk to each other even tho that is. probably not going 2 happen. (also can i just say. the fact that his name is fucking Knives AND he became like the evil twin is so funny to me. go off king. name urself after weapons and kill ppl.) SPEAKING OF WHICH. the fact that they have exact opposite philosophies about death and theyre twins. clenches fist. mirror image of each other two sides of the same coin and other poetic bullshit etc etc etc.

i have a FEELING. the fuckin uhhh. blue hair yugioh lookin bitch (legosto? i cant remember his name. the one that can talk in vashs head) is connected to knives somehow but i dont know exactly how. vash acts like he knows him from somewhere. either hes connected to knives or hes connected to july city . god i want to know more about july city. "ill take care of him" BABYGIRL SHE DIDNT MEAN IT LIKE THAT. SHE MEANT LITERALLY TAKE CARE OF HIM. BC YOURE BROTHERS. AUGH

[lost-technology]

Okay, so this came across my dash again, seen from my regular / main account and the weirdest damn thing is that it’s on the name of a person I’ve known from She-Ra fandom (who probably doesn’t want to talk to me anymore for awkwardness reasons and my not being much a part of that fandom anymore,  but that’s okay).   Anyway, yeah, a while back, when this first broke... I bought the book.  I bought the book based almost entirely on the fandom-fervor (the other half of it was reading the summary and thinking “Oh, that sounds badass!”)  That was a couple of months ago, but I have yet to read it because I’ve been hyperfixated on playing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.  I guess this post is telling me to finish the Gaiman I currently reading and get back to my To Be Read list.  I even bought a selection of specialty loose leaf tea to enjoy with the book and I’ve been... damn videogames!   Revisiting this story, it’s just... the whole situation is hilarious.  

I have been a Trigun fan, off and on - (but Vash the Stampede has consistently remained my favorite character in all of fiction, ever) since the Year of our Wolfwood, 2001 and BY FAR, BY FAR this is THE funniest thing that has happened in this fandom.  

So, a funny thing happened on trigun twitter

(amazon link where its 50% off as of May 8th: https://www.amazon.com/This-How-You-Lose-Time/dp/1534430997/)

[pancake-breakfast]

Sorry it took me so long to get these notes up. Between internet issues and pure busy-ness, it's been rough. But here they are! The notes from AX Day 1's Trigun Stampede panel! Now with images! (Sorry for Chilchuck's head in most of them. He's awfully tall for a half-foot.)

Trigun Stampede presented by Toho Animation, Studio Orange, and Crunchyroll

The guests for this panel were Yoshihiro Watanabe (producer at Orange) and Katsuhiro Takei (producer at Toho animation), with Steve Liu from Crunchyroll hosting. (They had a translator as well, but Watanabe promptly stole her job.)

One other thing I'm going to note before we get started is that this was Takei's first time talking about all this in front of an audience since Episode 12 aired. He kept looking out at the practically full auditorium (the panel was held in one of the ballrooms, so easily one of the biggest rooms at the venue) and seeing all the fans and cosplayers and just grinning from ear to ear. He was clearly very exited.

Introduction

They started off by playing a quick video recapping Season 1. (It really made me want to watch the show on a big screen. It looks great even on a projector!) After the video, Liu started in on the interview questions. Please don't take anything below as a direct quote unless it's in quotation marks; I'm not that fast with my notes, so I'm mostly paraphrasing and relying on my memory, either of which could include my own misinterpretation or just be flat-out wrong.

The first question was, how do you feel about the future of the series?

Watanabe said their passion (for creating more of the series) was burning within them.

Takei noted that when the show was initially announced at AX some years back, they were very nervous about it since they were remaking a well-known and well-loved title, but today, looking out at all the fans, he felt a lot more confident.

Behind the Scenes of Trigun Stampede

They then showed some concept art from the famed Trigun Bible. This included what Watanabe called "Vash's projection of Rem." Seems like they came up with this design before coming up with Vash's dark design.

They also shared some concept art of what most people assume to be spiky-haired Vash...

...but which Watanabe quickly noted is actually Vash in Episode 1. You know, when he's hanging upside-down. Takei added that Muto, the director, was a bit mischievous and had a tendency to lie to the staff about when certain designs would appear in the series. He apparently hid a handful of Easter eggs and foreshadowing (like Vash having spikier hair) throughout the series.

They also had some concept art of Knives and of Vash's wing.

They then showed some concept art for some friends all y'all might recognize if you read the manga....

...but in case you didn't, I'll identify the characters below:

Top Row: Vash the Stampede, Millions Knives, Meryl Stryfe, Roberto Deniro (the blank one), Legato Bluesummers

Bottom Row: Monev the Gale, Dominique the Cyclops, Leonof the Puppet-Master, E.G. the Mine, Nicholas the Punisher, Midvalley the Hornfreak, Hoppered the Gauntlet, Rai-Dei the Blade (his name doesn't actually look like Rai-Dei here, though, so they may be calling him something different or they may just be subbing in kanji; it's too small for me to tell), Grey the Ninelives, Livio the Double Fang, Zazie the Beast, Elendira the Crimsonnail

If you're sitting there thinking, "Aww, they came up with all these designs but we saw so few of them!" then I have news for you! Watanabe said we should be keeping an eye out for more of these folks in the next part.

Favorite Scenes

Next, Liu asked both of the guests about their favorite scenes, and before they got into talking about them, we were shown a video not just of the final scene, but the storyboard, the rough cut version, and the version used for dubbing, all on one screen.

Takei answered first, and he chose the scene from episode 1 where Vash goes up against Chuck Lee, a.k.a. the military policeman from July.

(The audience kept laughing at Vash's wonderfully goofy face in the storyboard.)

When asked why he loved that scene, Takei noted that everything they wanted to accomplish in Trigun Stampede was encapsulated in it. In the manga and '98, Vash is more funny and tough (although "a good-looking guy"), and here in Stampede, he's rather more wimpy (although "still a good-looking guy"). This scene is a good blend of both sides of Vash.

It also showcases a "good action scene," which he clarified by noting there aren't many anime where so much drama and emotion is centered around one bullet. Takei also noted (though it's hard to convey to you all via still images) that Muto trusted his animators to improve on the storyboards. He's not as strict as some other directors and didn't want them to feel confined to stick to it too closely, but rather wanted them to enhance what was storyboarded out as they felt was appropriate.

Which leads to Watanabe's choice for favorite scene: the one where Vash is running through his shattered memories toward Rem and finally breaks free of Knives' prison and yeets Knives himself out. (Alas, Watanabe did not, in fact, use the word "yeet.")

Watanabe said he chose this scene because he loved the details that the team added to it after the storyboarding. The storyboard just had Vash running, but they added all these subtle movements and emotion that created a much stronger impact. When the completed scene was presented in Studio Orange, all who saw it were in awe.

Upcoming Trigun Stampede Merch

First up, as many of you already know, we have the Special Edition DVD/Blu-Ray set, which is currently available via preorder on Crunchyroll.

Second up is a new Vash figure! So new they haven't finished coloring it yet, BUT they did note this will be Black Vash (a.k.a. Grape Juice Vash) from Ep. 12. Takei is particularly excited about this because he always wanted to get the Black Vash figure from back in the day, but wasn't able to, and now he's gonna be able to get his own Stampede version. This figure is actually designed by the same person who designed the Vash figures for the manga back in the day. Interestingly, after they picked him but before they met to collaborate on designs, he came up with the current design for the figure. This worked out exceedingly well, since the design Orange wanted for the figure was basically the same thing.

Also, this Vash figure will soon have a Wolfwood companion figure. Because you can't have just one of them. The Wolfwood figure is still being designed, so alas, no images of it yet.

There's also been a restock of the orders for the clothes collaboration they had with SuperGroupies before, so a bunch of that stuff will be available again soon. They're also adding a new item to the lineup, and that's a black version of the Vash jacket. (I checked their website and it looks like they might also be adding a Livio EoM jacket. Hot.)

Preview Stuff for the Next Season

Ok, first and foremost, I'm gonna note there was NO TRAILER SHOWN, so let's crush those hopes now lest they linger and lead to disappointment. What they DID show was this:

First, a preview image of the characters for the upcoming season....

TBH, the only difference I really noticed is Knives' hair seems fluffier, but new art is always nice! Also, this one looks like a win for foot, ankle, and/or hand fetishists.

Second, we got a lovely video thanks from Nightow himself!

(He said he wanted to be there, but unfortunately there wasn't a strong enough headwind for him to run to the con. And for the curious, he's wearing a Guillermo del Toro shirt.)

Nightow being a fan of Stampede and overjoyed that so many people love his story isn't new. (Wonderful, but not new.) What IS new is he drew this nice little piece of art for us all.

He said this was his first time drawing Stampede Wolfwood. He had to get them to send him 3D images of the Punisher to be able to get it right, but he enjoyed making it! He said "it felt old and new at the same time." He can't believe next year will be the series' 30th anniversary. (Congrats, OG fans. Now we can all feel old together.)

The third thing they released was this.

Given the amount of trouble I've had posting this, I'm sure plenty of you already know that the next season/final chapter is going to be called Trigun Stargaze. Liu asked Takei about this title, and Takei said something like, "I don't know what this is about. Trigun Stargaze? What's that? This is news to me." He then (after noting he had just been joking) launched into what little he could tell us about the upcoming season.

He said he can't talk about the reason for the specific title, but that manga readers can probably make some good guesses.

Trigun Stargaze will take place 2 1/2 years after Stampede. They want to keep in mind the original concept behind Stampede, that being that because the previous Trigun stories have been so amazing, what they create needs to be amazing, too. He said they're proud of what they've made so far. It went beyond your imagination. He hopes Stargaze will go beyond your imagination, too.

Cosplayer Highlight

They decided to call all the cosplayers up to the space in front of the stage next. There were SO MANY COSPLAYERS!! Foolishly, I didn't take a panorama.

Costumes included '98 and Stampede versions of Vash, Wolfwood, and Meryl, as well as a handful of Millys (Millies?), not one but TWO groups doing Barbie & Ken-styled Vash and Wolfwood (the Barbie Vashes shouted, "Hi, Barbie!" at each other when everyone went to sit back down), an old-school Legato, a Zazie, and a group fully cross-playing the characters (with Meryl and Milly being male while Vash and Wolfwood were female; they did NOT change the costumes for any of the characters).

Liu handed out prizes to a few of them (they didn't have nearly enough prizes for all of them), and then they had all the cosplayers bunch up and face the stage and the guests turn around and took a picture of everyone. (If anyone has a link to the picture anywhere, let me know and I'll add it here. No, you can't see me in it; I'm much too far over to the side.)

Guests' Closing Thoughts

They were actually running early on the panel, so Liu opened it up to any additional comments either of the guests would like to make.

Takei still seemed overwhelmed by all the cosplayers (like I said, he spent the whole panel grinning from ear to ear at the audience), and he noted he had been worried about the Stampede characters being accepted by the fans. This was his first time seeing all the cosplayers, and he said that made him "feel safe."

Watanabe said he loved looking at the "multiverse" of Trigun. It had these previous iterations, and now it has Stampede, and the fans have both adopted it and adapted it, blending the different versions together and even adding their own things, and he really appreciates that. Takei added that while they created Trigun Stampede, if in 50 or 100 years, a new Trigun series is made, that would be great.

The animation for Stargaze is in process. Watanabe said he just recently saw some of it (a clip of only a few seconds that he, of course, couldn't show us) and it blew him away.

Both Watanabe and Takei are fans of the manga and the original series, and Takei said he's really wanted this series to happen, so he hopes we all look forward to it, too.

[x-i-l-verify]

#this is what keeps me coming back to it too #I'll take astonishingly Christian anime for 500 Alex

Trigun fucking destroys me, okay.

It's about persisting through the most horrific obstacles imaginable, and never losing hope for yourself and others. It's about the fruit your efforts bear, but it doesn't ignore the ugliness of the suffering you endure. It doesn't sweep it under the rug to give you a happy ending.

As a jaded millennial, I get a bit tired of stories where everything turns out fine because the heroes tried hard. Most stories gloss over the repercussions of failure. They tell us it's all simply a means to an end, and that end is what matters. Overcoming your obstacle matters. Winning matters.

Trigun doesn't do this.

Vash gets hurt (gross understatement). He's ostracized, bullied, threatened, haunted, forced to see the darkest underbelly of humanity. He's subjected to the worst parts of life that are grotesquely ruthless, unforgiving, hopeless. He's forced to reconcile a lot of his goals (like never killing anyone), but not the core of his beliefs.

Not once does he falter in his trust that people are capable of good, that we all deserve that chance to be. He never has a revelation that shakes his faith in humanity, despite constantly being given every reason to. He's the irritatingly optimistic anime protagonist who looks at impossible odds and says "everything will be alright", the way no one can in real life because it never works out that way for us.

And it doesn't for him, either.

Vash does his best, believes in himself, and fails. over and over and over again. He loses everything--loved ones, memories, autonomy. He loses constantly. He's your unrealistically positive hero, being dealt realistically unfavorable hands.

And still, he persists. He never truly wins. Because we never truly win. Life has no happy ending like a story does.

He never truly wins, and yet, he can still find happiness. He meets friends, enjoys good food, watches people love fiercely in both blessing and hardship. He hits unbelievable lows that don't keep him from finding highs. Because he never stops trying to be the best of what he sees in humanity. Because every little bit counts. He never stops believing in humans--believing in you.

Trigun grabs you by the face and stares directly at you. It says "I see you, I see your pain, how much you struggle. I see how sometimes no matter how hard you try, things don't work out. Life isn't a fairy tale. I see how your kindness can come back to hurt you, hurt others. I see you, and I'm proud of you. Life is worth living with love in your heart not because we win, but because we try. We all try. Never stop trying to be kind."

Trigun shows you the cruel reality of life, and leaves you feeling good about it.

I don't know a single piece of media that's able to do that.