#love u midvalley

[collieii]

back on my wolfwood bullshit! i'm using a lot of the same ideas from my other post so i'll try not to repeat myself, but as i said, a major theme of wolfwood's arc is autonomy and freedom, and the idea that having freedom to choose also comes with the responsibility to act and make good choices.

throughout trimax, wolfwood is in a strange position. he's beholden to higher powers - the eye of michael, knives, even vash in a way, while also simultaneously having a lot of freedom to act, particularly in the moment. the things that control him are more like swords of damocles - present, inevitable, but not immediate. he's constantly struggling to figure out what he should do - take knives out, kill vash, and more generally, things like his profession as assassin. he's very torn about the choices he makes (or doesn't make) and the life he lives because he's dissatisfied with his position, and there isn't an easy way out.

there are a lot of parallels between midvalley and wolfwood. midvalley, similar to wolfwood, was forced into a place he really didn't want to be in. he's hyperaware of the danger of his situation, knows he's expendable to knives, and that knives has so much power - how can anyone escape it? so he has to ask himself - how is he going to spend the time that he has? should he risk his life or play it safe? we know what he decides - he's likely to die either way, so he might as well try to get his way, release himself from knives' control.

midvalley pretty easily identifies wolfwood as someone who is allied with vash, who has no true loyalty to knives. he says they have no reason to fight - midvalley and hoppered have officially moved against knives and made their choice. is wolfwood going to resolve himself, follow what he truly believes - in vash, against knives? or will he keep playing the game of someone who doesn't have their mind made up, still working under knives thumb? (midvalley has always called wolfwood chapel, right up until this moment - he's breaking through the pretenses, acknowledging that he knows what wolfwood really is).

(using the overhaul translation here bc it's much clearer!) midvalley basically says that wolfwood does have power, but at that point in the story, he's mostly just going along with what's safe, as opposed to midvalley and hoppered. midvalley is aware that wolfwood might have similar goals to him. as someone who, like wolfwood, fears knives and what he can do, midvalley criticizes wolfwood's passivity or inability to fight for what he wants.

still, we see that when midvalley does act against knives he dies. immediately. both him and hoppered made their choice, and it didn't end well for them. maybe they knew it'd be that way. still, it's a poignant reminder to wolfwood about the power of choice, and the risks that come with it. he has to confront what other people are willing to risk and ask himself if he can do the same.

then we get to volume 8. wolfwood, who spends so much of the story agonizing over his choices, is finally resolved. he goes against knives and frees vash. he chooses not to kill unless absolutely necessary. his autonomy is realized at the price of his life. and that's the equation he has to figure - save myself, and damn everyone i care about? be dissatisfied with myself, my life? or save what he loves, do what he wants, and risk himself? wolfwood is keenly aware of his own morality. he has so much he wants to protect, and he can't do that if he's dead. i think one of the reasons he's able to take a stand against knives is because of his relationship with vash - he knows that there's someone with similar goals and values who will fight to protect humanity after he's gone. he goes out having taken care of chapel and livio, and trusting that vash will handle knives. he can die peacefully knowing he's assured the safety of his family.

by volume 10, wolfwood is showing everyone who he is and what he stands for, for better or worse. he was willing to fight - and willing to die - to do what he believed was right. trimax shows, again, and again, that there's often no easy answer, no easy way to live, no easy choice to make. that's sort of the idea that's communicated with the bird imagery - a life of freedom is a life of struggle. it's not a new idea, ofc. but we see with wolfwood - the right thing and the safe thing are often not the same. what are we willing to do? how far will we go? what will we sacrifice? and what will leave us most satisfied at the end?

#nicholas d. wolfwood #trigun maximum #trigun analysis #trigun meta #trigun #this is so disorganized but i had like three separate ww posts in my drafts so i bundled them all together into this thing #idk what im saying i just wanted to talk abt midvalley ig #love u midvalley #should i tag him #midvalley the hornfreak #maybe this is a reach but dont his and wws designs parallel each other? #they have similar silhouettes #they both wear suits but wws is dark and midvalleys is light? #this is why they should kiss. with tongue #.lieii #also smth smth ticket to the future you always have a chance to change your life no matter what was your past #you can choose to be better? idk this post is too long already #i should cut it short but im lazy and it's been in my drafts forever i will release her #trimax spoilers #nicholas d wolfwood #.lieii txt #linked the other ww post i mentioned bc i think it is helpful #tho ik it won't show up in any rbs...ik

[ruporas]

wolfwood redraws (ID in alt text)

#nicholas d wolfwood #trigun #trigun maximum #tw blood #going to be talking vol 9 spoilers in here pls do not read if u have not read it!! #wolfwood my beloved. he's such a battle genius with such strong survival instincts and incentive to fight. it makes me so sad but also #it's just the way he's been able to live for as long as he has [explodes] #midvalley calling him a demon/devil (iforget which word) and livio being like “victory seems impossible” when faced against him aughhh AUGH #he's clearly not invincible - vol 8 proved that when he almost did get beat if not for vash swooping back in... but the way he carries #the battles really makes it feel like it. especially whenever he “revives” for the sake of protecting another person. i.e. him getting #back up to defeat livio - him battered and worn from the fight but then pushing his body to get up when chapel aimed at the orphanage #and then despite the blood gushing out of him he still regained cautiousness to defend razlo at the end.... ugh.... ugh..... #anyway... i love how nightow draws ww - these were fun to do. ive been meaning to do these redraws esp from vol 9/10 #and maybe ill go back to do redraws from his previous fights. all and all i just need to get down how he uses the punisher properly #ruporas art

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

HIII MAC literally no apologizing omg. man my favorite thing to do is watch or read a thing for the first time with friends who already love the thing!!!!!!! also im being the devil in ur ear..... u SHOULD relisten to pd with the commentary >:333c itll be better on the relisten... it always is... also u GOTTA lmk if theres interesting bits in the post-show podcast!!! i loove that kind of thing but also i cant b spending $70 a month on patreon 😭😭😭 anyway..... ashe.... winters, right?? i know ive Heard of them. i don't know anything abt their deal at allllll except like,,,, vibes-based goth kid??? maybe??? u will for SURE know as soon as i hit any important Plot Shit or characters though hskskdjfjf rambling right back at u <333 >:]

DUDE DUDE I AM A PATREON MEMBER SO IF U WANT ANY OF THE BTS STUFF HIT ME UPPPP i will so gladly share that forever. theres also art. did u know there was art. there is so much fucking good pd official art these guys want a comic book of their dnd superheros so badly . (i dont think i can send u any yet but. goddamn they pop off with the art of significant plot events in season 2. goddamn)

THE FUNNY THING IS I HAVE ALREADY LISTENED TO ALL THE COMMENTARY FOR PD BECAUSE I DID IT PROPERLY THIS TIME AROUND ON MY FIRST LISTEN (ep 1, ep 1 commentary, ep 2, ep 2 commentary etc.) however. god. u are tempting me so much. hello little devil on my shoulder i hope its comfy up there. oh i love you pd season 1 they were just kids..... they ARE just kids..... head in hands

#i did listsn to the beginning of episode 6 bc i wanted to know what ghostknife moment prompted that post. #for the record. it was EXACTLY the one i thought it was. god theyre so awkward teenager i love them so much . #vyncent worlds most oblivious boy <3 #i try to hold his hand and it just goes through... he doesnt even notice..... sigh #theyre the worst actually i hate them #ALSO HI. HELLO . MY FRIEND I LOVE YOU. IM SO HAPPY i always get in my head about oh no this is probably so annoying #and then i remember the absolute joy that came from all of my trigun liveblogging LMAO #quick whats the hornfreak moment of pd. #nothing could compare to that actually. le frog has nothing on midvalley the hornfreak #asks #friends!!! #intertexts #ok deal if i listen to pd again and anything interesting and good comes up in the rolleds i will send u asks about it posthaste. #godspeed soldier 🫡🫡🫡🫡

[ghostiezone]

TARGET AUDIENCE REACHED.

#TUMBLR USER THEHORNYFREAK I NEED U TO KNOW THAT NOTIF MADE ME LAUGH SO HARD. MADE MY DAY. SO SILLY #welcome 2 ghostiezone we love midvalley here #not art

[chaotic-solutions]

trigun sketch dump that i don’t remember drawing most of. love u midvalley

#trigun #trigun maximum #trigun 98 #vash the stampede #nicholas d wolfwood #midvalley the hornfreak #vashwood #art tag

[handweavers]

hey this is so random but im visiting kl for a few days with friends do u have any recommendations for cool art places, museums, mamak stalls !! (nw if u dont or dont want to, have a great day boss)

- national textiles museum in the city centre has my heart, but muzium negara is also lovely

- nasi kandar rasmeena on jalan bangsar is excellent mamak, seriously so good

- laksa kg baru on jalan raja alang in chow kit is 🙏🏽 dayang sarawak corner on jalan suasa in sungai besi is also excellent

- feeka coffee in bukit bintang is great if you want a nice sit down place with food. marmalade in bangsar village 2 is lovely for brunch but expensive. for coffee chains i like coffee bean and tea leaf & old town coffee (the latter is malaysian-owned)

- for art galleries: galeri prima, ur-mu, wei-ling, ilham, and arthouse gallery museum are all nice to visit, check what they have on when you're coming

- if you like art supplies, art friend in the gardens mall at midvalley is the best art supply shop i've found in kl so far.

- typo at pavilion klcc is a great stationery shop, they have other storefronts elsewhere too

- czip+ by cziplee on jalan telawi 3 is also an awesome art supply and stationery shop, they have another location in bangsar village 2 they opened recently but the one on jalan telawi 3 is bigger

- kinokuniya at pavilion klcc is a massive 2 storey bookstore, books in many languages (english, japanese, and local ones), tons of stationery as well as manga and comics. the manga and comics section alone is bigger than some bookstores i've been in. you could spend all day walking around in here

- for night markets, petaling street is the obvious one but if you want one that's less touristy check out the pudu glutton street night market or the one in chow kit kampung baru. lots of awesome food but less tourists n souvenir shops

#hope u enjoy your time in kl 🥳❤️ #oh and in case u arent msian tealive is the local boba tea chain and its great

[huginsmemory]

hi :) 🔥 maybe for vashwood or just trigun in general

Hello, and why thank you for the ask! This is a spicy one hahaha. Uhm, I definitely do have a few bones to pick with vashwood and trigun, and yup if you're like oh no is this about stampede (cough, low hanging fruit...) Then. Uhm. yeah it is. Sorry. I have a few thoughts about it, and why I really dislike (sorry stampede enjoyers) the choices for the characterization for Vash and Wolfwood, including the feminization of Vash. And also... how part of these characterizations are related to classical yaoi shipping dynamic tropes and how it may or may not be intentional (I'm gifting u a conspiracy haha). And then my own opinions on these changes and the reception of the new characterizations. These thoughts have been rolling around in my brain for a while but I wasn't sure if I wanted to post it since it's a bit spicy. But. Well. This is as good a sign as any.

I'll be going over the differences in Wolfwoods characterization, in Vash's characterization and his feminization in stampede, and then how this relates to yaoi shipping dynamics and Vashwood fandom reception (and my personal feelings around it...).

Also, this ended up being... Really long. Oops. I've highlighted the TLDR paragraphs in red for those who want to skim. If u want to just be like, wow spicy take with no context... Go to the last paragraph lol.

Preface and acknowledgement

I want to preface this with that I haven't actually watched Stampede, although I have quite heavily engaged with secondary material about it, ie gifs, meta posts, etc. So I suppose one can take my opinions with a grain of salt; to really form a full opinion on the series, I would have to watch stampede myself, of which I have zero time to do and maybe at one point I'll get around to. This is also why I've been reluctant to get into my thoughts... but from what I've seen of it, I've got a few bones to pick.

Yes, I may be a bit of a hater (ah... such a strong word...) but I do want to acknowledge that stampede has revived the trigun fandom, and hell, I wouldn't have read the manga without it. So credit where credits due, and it's very exciting to engage with the fandom for the first time and see it grow so much in such a short time. Also, yes, I am one of those people who watched the 98 version quite a while ago, so for me it's something that is nostalgic. Call me blinded by nostalgia all u want. If stampede is what first got you into trigun-- congrats! I'm not here to invalidate your experience; stampede is simply another iteration of trigun (even if I disagree with some of the characterizations), and I highly recommend you check out the manga as well. I'm very happy to have you here in the fandom!

Wolfwood's characterization

As some other people have noted here- stamp!ww is a bit different then ww in trimax or the 98, while the cut-copy-paste of the tragic orphange background stays the same (Nightow, you're so over the top. I love it).

Within 98 and trimax, ww is a bit rough around the edges, but is overall friendly, kind, charismatic and a bit goofy (a character trait these ww's share with Vash, which they both use it in a way to mask their darker parts of their lives). Sure, wolfwood in these iterations have zero issues calling people out on their bullshit and is willing to manipulate people around him into doing the greater good- but is shown to be gruffly genuinely caring about people when he can help (especially children), even if he still chooses to kill people when it comes down to it. This can be seen with 98!ww getting Vash to sign up for the tournament to help the single mum and her kid, and the way trimax!Wolfwood treats Milly during the midvalley fight because he's worried about her getting seriously injured, even going to the point of injuring her himself. Sure, he's not going to declare his care verbally to people, but he doesn't need to do that when he's actively doing things that clearly shows he cares for people, especially those he's created ties to, even if he chooses to be violent/forceful when he believes what he is doing is for the best.

This charismatic friendliness and kindness is generally stripped from Stamp!Wolfwood; sure, he cares deep down as is displayed by the orphange and his concern later in the series for Vash, but through his actions with others, there's a noticible lack of general feeling of kindness behind his overstepping of people boundaries compared to og!ww. As another user in here put it, Stamp!ww is a bit of a dick. He has harsh commentary to the group and one of the first things you do is see him rip off Meryl and Roberto with his undertaker job over literal dead bodies when he's introduced. Nor does he really get to be redeemed through showing his care for children, such as at the bus stop where he gives away most of his money or food to begging children, opting to go hungry himself; it instead being replaced by him giving a lolipop to Zazie... which doesn't count for shit. This post by chibivesicles does a really good job of summarizing it from the fourth episode.

ID: 3 images, each of different iterations of Wolfwood giving something away to a child. First is 98, with ww giving away two of his three food ration bars to two scruffy children, the second from the manga with ww giving away two of his three coins to two scruffy children while Vash watches on, and the third with ww offering a sucker to Zazie while Meryl and Vash watch on.

Overall, the gist I've gotten of Stampede's iteration is that they very much boxed Wolfwood into the typical anime tsundere black-haired brooding character, stripping out his previous goofy and friendly charisma as well as his general feeling of kindness to fit that character trope better.

Vash's Characterization

Vash within 98 and trimax is also pretty different from stamp!Vash; I find this difference to specifically come from stamp!Vash feeling more naive, less driven and well--a bit spineless. The differences come down to two things; Vash having a strong moral spine which he is willing to call people out on due to righteous anger and Vash being emotionally detached from the people around him. Sure, og Vash (going to just use this to refer to 98 and trigun manga together) is goofy, cheerful and shows his emotions on his sleeve, but he doesn't actually let people become close to him. It's delibrate, and most of it specifically revolves around obfuscating that he's a plant and his goal of trying to chase Knives down; thus, he adopts a lifestyle of travelling and rarely staying long in areas, and so you see that his relationship with people are pretty surface level, even through his friendliness.

Three specific incidents within the series and their differences illustrate the emotional distance, and the righteous fury of og!Vash's in comparison to stamp!Vash. This includes Vash's childhood and relationship to the people on the seeds ship after the fall, Brad questioning their trust in Vash as he isn't human, and Wolfwood killing someone to save Vash.

Firstly, for Vash's childhood after the fall, within stampede he's pretty quickly picked up by the seeds ship, which hosts him, and they immediately are able to identify that he is an independent plant. They know more about him than he knows really about himself, and they also are generally aware about the fall (although not the exact details until later). Vash is raised for a while under their tutelage, and ends up helping heal plants, overall forming bonds with them even if they treat him a bit rough in the beginning, and Luida becomes mom #2.

ID: Screenshot from tristamp, of the photo on Vash's bedroom table, of him with all the seeds ship people he was working with.

In 98, no information is really given, but presumably is something somewhat similar to trimax. In trimax, after the fall Vash literally wanders the wastes with Knives for about 70 years, until Knives cuts Vash's arm off in anger at Vash's insistence that people shouldn't be killed, even when he's literally at the mercy of a town that is going to kill him and sell his organs. It is assumed sometime not long after Vash gets picked up by the seeds ship people, as it is mentioned that theyve known him for 70 years. Vash during these 80 years is very alone, with only his brother as company who is angry and abusive, as is directly pointed out within the manga. The two of them are presumed to be eking out a living travelling around the harsh wastes, and as displayed by the human organ stealing town, it is clear that often human settlements are just another possibility of danger due to crime and violence as a result of limited resources.

ID: two manga pages. First is just a panel showing Vash's flashbacks to violent traumatic instances of his childhood, showing a montage of him yelling, holding a gun, and crouched over a man who is dead and bleeding out looking panicked and horrified.

The second page is Knives while they are traveling together in the desert, looking down at Vash and calling him over. Vash looks at Knives, and he narrates that "It was about 80 years after the fall. Time passed slowly, but we neither grew nor parted. I knew I couldn't leave him alone. That thought alone determined the distance between us." Vash and Knives are clearly distant from each other in the panel, Vash in the foreground and Knives indistinguishable other than a silhouette at the top of the sand dune in the hindground.

In comparison, although it's not easy for Vash either in stampede, his childhood is cushier and less lonely. This loneliness and harsh environment that trimax!Vash exists within adds a depth of experience to his ethics, informing his righteous anger over everything that is morally wrong and should have never been, that makes him speak out, providing him a stronger spine which stamp!Vash doesn't have. This intensely lonely part of his upbringing also gives him an emotional independence, or even detachment, from most people he interacts with, in comparison to stamp!Vash who is emotionally dependent (and seems less mature) due to his ties to the seeds ship people.

As in tristamp, the closest people to Vash in trimax are the people on the seeds ships (also Lina and her grandma, but they don't know who he is when they take him in). Although he's the most open with them (ie, they know about Knives and his plans), during the visit to the seeds ship you are still given the idea that while Vash knows everyone and cares greatly for them, Vash is still generally emotionally independent from them, and doesn't form intimate relationships with people (especially compared to stamp!Vash). Interestingly, the manga implies when they first visit that they don't know what he is exactly, just that he's functionally immortal, as that when Luida talks about him to Wolfwood, she doesn't mention that he's a plant. Overall, compared to the outside people, the people on the seeds ship know more, and are more aware of how to use the old technology (it's also something that is hinted that some of it is possibly taught to them by Vash over the years), but they are not more knowledgeable then Vash, with Vash likely about the same level or more knowledgeable then them about general 'lost tech' and plant related things. As well, the people on the seeds ship in trimax are entirely unaware of circumstances around the fall--and Vash never tells them either. The visit to the seeds ship trimax functions as a way to allow the reader to distinctly comprehend Vash's age, and how Vash is really quite a terribly lonely character, as he is doomed to watch those he cares about die (which also informs why he likely doesn't really let people get very close to him, along with practical matters). This is directly pointed out in Luida's conversation with Wolfwood and Wolfwoods own inner monologue, as well as being alluded to by Jessica's locket, and Brad's grumblings. From the explanations you get the sense that Vash is emotionally independent and in a way, detached from people's opinions of him as a result of his longevity, with his constant travelling only ensuring that.

This is very different to the relationship of stamp!Vash with the seeds ship, as Vash is shown to have emotionally dependant relationships with the people on the seeds ship, with them literally raising him as a child, and this 'parent-child' relationship is only emphasized by them knowing more than Vash does about independent plants. Instead of emphasizing how Vash is old and outside of time, the dynamic gives Vash as a character an overall young and naive slant to his character, even if they still do drop the 'he's 150 years old' line when the stamp gang visits the ship.

This emotional dependence/independence directly corroborates to the differences in Vash's response to Brad's comment on him not trusting him, as something non-human. Within stampede, as Vash is young, he flees, feeling rejected--indicating a strong emotional dependence on those on the seeds ships for acceptance of who he is. However, within Trimax, Vash acknowledges Brad's comment, and actually validates and agrees with Brad's concerns; he's aware enough that who and what he is something to be feared and suspicious of (especially as by this time, the fifth moon incident, and July has occurred) and is worried about this himself; however, he simply requests Brad to trust him in this. Trimax!Vash's is emotionally independent, from Brad's rejection, a person who is part of the community that he is closest to; he accepts what Brad says, but also stands firm on his request from the community and his continued association with them, focused on his goals of stopping Knives. It's a scene that originally shows Vash's emotional independence from what others think of him (although he is saddened by it), and displays his maturity and acceptance when others reject him for who he is.

ID: Five pages of the manga. First page, Brad (in his early 20's) scoffs at Vash being called human. Second, Brad accuses Vash as a plague bringer in light of the fifth moon incident being brought up, grabbing him by his collar. Vash closes his eyes, then looks up at Brad, gaze steely, replying, "yeah that is possible". Third page, Vash asks Brad "Won't... you trust me? Please. Brad?". Vash looks sorrowful but is serious. Fourth page, Brad responds by saying "Ones who live outside of time, huh... In thirteen years... even though my hands have grown this big... You... Haven't really changed at all". The words are over-laid on an image of Brad's small hands reaching up to Vash when he was a child, and a smaller panel has Brad looking disturbed. The fifth page has Brad angrily stomping out of the room calling out "Everyone in the older generation may trust you... But you're not convincing me!". Vash then responds by saying to the older man in the room, that "I see what you mean. From the standpoint of a normal human I must be a monster.".

This is entirely turned on its head within tristamp to a scene that displays emotional dependence on people and an inability to accept rejection, displaying a immature, self-conscious, and younger version of Vash. Obviously, he is still younger at this point, but this immaturity and emotional dependence is one that still persists within the narrative of stampede, and influences your view of Stamp!vash. One could argue that then learning the details of why the ships fell is something Vash feels more guilty about, and so takes Brad's criticism harder, and flees. However, no matter what, this is a immature reaction. Interestingly, this portrayal of Vash having an emotional dependence on humans accepting him, is quite contrary to trimax, as this trait is actually one that specifically emphasized to belong to Knives, while trimax!Vash is shown to be emotionally detached and generally uninterested in their acceptance by humans.

ID: Screencap from stampede, Vash against the door looking shocked and horrified as he hears Brad say "he's never been on the side of us humans!".

The third thing is the scene where Wolfwood kills a man for Vash. Within stampede, Rollo is killed; Vash is angry at Wolfwood for doing so, grabbing Wolfwoods collar, but with a few strong words of a reminder of the harshness of general existence from wolfwood, Vash shuts up and is shown to just be sad, if a bit withdrawn/sulky with Wolfwood. Within Trimax, this scene is technically a rolling together of multiple arcs, but specifically thematically wise is a revamp of when he faces off with Rai-dei the Blade. When Wolfwood kills Rai-dei, Vash literally slaps Wolfwood hard in anger, resulting in them get into a fight, with Wolfwood retaliating by slamming Vash down to the ground in anger, and culminating in him pressing his loaded handgun into Vash hands, pointing it at his own head, and telling him to shoot; Vash then derogatorily calls Wolfwood a coward and they break up the fight, both still very angry at each other. In this, Vash clearly has very strong morals and is unafraid to call Wolfwood out when he transgresses them, full of righteous fury. None of this anger is transposed into stamp!Vash, who just looks sad about all of it; sure, he has values, but they feel like he fumbles with them, unsure and unwilling to speak up for them in an assertive way, crumbling underneath any criticism.

ID: first image is three panels from tristamp, and second is five pages of the manga, both detailing Vash calling out Wolfwood on killing.

First of the three panels has Vash grasping ww collar, looking angry; Wolfwood says "mercy" in response to the unseen question asked by Vash. He then goes on to say "there's no way to return his humanity", and Vash is looking down, fists clenched. Wolfwood continues, saying that "at best, it's all talk" about Vash's beliefs. Vash looks hollow and distressed.

The second, the first page has ww shooting Rai-dei; Vash responds in horror. Second page has Vash slap Wolfwood, yelling "why? Why did you shoot him?! Wolfwood?", to glare up at him. Third page has ww slam Vash onto the ground, Vash looks shocked, arms around his head to protect it. Ww glares down at Vash, saying "are you really such an idiot? If I hadn't shot him, it would be you lying there." Fourth page has Wolfwood holding Vash's hand with his own handgun in it against his forehead. Wolfwood tells Vash to "SHOOT." Fifth panel has Wolfwood telling Vash that he is a chickenshit for not being able to kill him. Vash then responds by calling Wolfwood a coward.

Something that's also interesting about the righteous anger that drives og!vash, is that its specifically because of his righteous anger, that he comes very close to killing people (Monev the gale, and how he's originally in the trigun manga before trimax presumably tracking down Knives to kill him after July, to some degree the rapist in the train)--and violating his ethics. This anger--and Vash's very real possibility of him killing someone out of a feeling of righteous fury, or a feeling of just righteousness--adds further dimension to Vash as a character, because you see that he also struggles with his no kill rule, even if he staunchly stands by it. Which... without this feeling of righteous anger, it takes out Vash's dilemmas around killing others.

To summarize the above, stamp!Vash lacks the righteous anger that og!Vash has around his belief of forgiveness and second chances (of a blank ticket), and as a result fails to confront others assertively when presented with things that go against his beliefs. Stamp!Vash also lacks the emotional independence that he previously had as a result of a harsh and lonely upbringing and his travelling lifestyle and his inability to age; instead he forms an emotional dependence and connections with them. Generally, the two characters have a very different relationship with the people in the seeds ship, which makes trimax vash seem older and more mature, while Stamp!vash feels more young and naive.

Vash and Femininity

Vash as a character has always been portrayed in a somewhat feminine light; Nightow even specifically has said that he purposely designed the angel arm with feminine elements, as the act of creation is correlated to the feminine. In much the same way, plants are drawn feminine, likely to correlate to the same feminine=creation manner. Thus, his relations to the angel arm, and plants he is given a feminine slant to his character. As well, Vash is shown to be open (ie, crying in public multiple times) and shown to be (at least somewhat) emotionally competent with his emotions, as that empathy (and Rem's instructions) is the core of his belief of pacifism and no-kill policy. These emotional related traits are, well, very commonly perceived to be feminine traits. Vash is also quite pretty in a more delicate (feminine) way, especially with his teardrop mole; he's not 'ruggedly' handsome like Wolfwood, in a more traditionally 'masculine' way. As well, Vash as a character is shown to be a more passive character, as the majority of trimax and 98 has the plot occurring to Vash, rather then Vash actively seeking out and causing changes within the narrative. This passivity within the narrative also is commonly found correlated to female roles, who often aren't active agents of the narrative. This can especially be seen in comparison to active 'male' roles, such as is played out by Knives who is majorly making decisions that move the plot forward (although Knives himself has gender fuckery going on. Nightow likes gender fuckery. On a related note, I love u Elendira and I'm so sorry what they did to you in tristamp that's horrendous). This is also related to how repeatedly within trigun the issue of bodily autonomy and choice is brought up--within plants of course, but also Vash's bodily autonomy is clearly violated multiple times, such as within July, and the fifth moon incident by Knives (and this relates, and this immensely good post put it, also to Vash's insistence on not killing, which is the most ultimate form of violation of bodily autonomy). Bodily autonomy (and the lack of it) is also something deeply related to woman's issues (among others, such as general minority groups).

So overall, even within Trimax and 98, Vash is quite clearly traditionally feminine coded, as can be seen in relation to his angel arm, his emotional openness, his physical features of being 'pretty', his passivity within the narrative and his lack of bodily autonomy. However, even within these feminine traits, og!Vash still comes off as masculine; the breadth of his shoulders and triangle shaped body indicates that, as well as his righteous anger and willingness to speak up against ethical issues are typically seen as masculine traits. Within 98 and trimax he's essentially coded as a feminine-leaning man.

Stamp!Vash however, is a different can of worms. His character still carries the feminine traits as is detailed above, but as previously discussed, specifically lacks the righteous anger that gives og!Vash a backbone and a willingness to stand up for transgressions against his ethics. This further emphasis on passivity of Vash strips him of one of the defining 'masculine' traits of anger, further sliding him along the masculine-feminine spectrum to a more feminine character. As well, with the character revamp making Vash more lithe, rather then giving him broad shoulders, and his hair cut is more of a non-binary haircut vs something that could be argued to be more masculine, further effeminates him as a character. Not to mention the work he's been doing, which is being a plant engineer, specifically involves with caring for and nurturing plants--which directly correlates to a emotionally sensitive nurturing role, one which it is also correlated to a feminine role. This especially so when it's shown that this iteration of Vash is clearly emotionally sensitive too and dependant on the people from the seeds ship, another 'feminine' trait. As well, within stampedes Vash rarely fires his gun... In comparison to 98 and trimax, where you see him fire it quite frequently, to incapacitate people. Comfort with firing a gun, and just general use of a weapon is another traditionally masculine trait. Overall, Vash within Stampede is almost entirely devoid of any masculine traits and is comprised of almost all feminine traits--passive both in narrative and in character, feminine in his work, his build, his goddamn haircut, his bodily autonomy-- with basically the only thing not is that he's not canonically female.

Stamp!Vash feminization and Fandom Reception

This has quite obviously been picked up by the fandom, with many people with trans!Vash headcanons. As per my experience of generally keeping an eye on the ao3 feed, in fact, a large majority of Vashwood fanfiction is of afab trans Vash, with another majority of xeno/intersex Vash; in fact, it's a rarity to find a fic specifically detailing a non trans or intersex Vash within the newer AO3 works. Interestingly, this is quite different then the works previously found within Vashwood on AO3, pre-stamp; these works are primarily with a amab non-trans Vash. It'd be interesting to actually run the numbers, but I'm too lazy to do that. This difference I've observed within pre and post stamp I bet is a result of these changes to Vash's character, making him more feminine--and more likely to be pegged (pun intended) as a trans or intersex character, especially one that has a vagina (specifically, vaginal sex within explicit fics is a very common tag within the Vashwood ao3 feed).

Stamp!Vashwood and Yaoi Tropes

Something that has been personally mildly bugging me about the stampede vashwood is the common yaoi trope of when there are two gay characters, one needs to assume to traditionally feminine role (nurturing, emotional, passive), while the other keeps the traditionally masculine role (in charge, often unable/unwilling to express emotions ) within the relationship. As well, a popular trope within the traditionally masculine role is for the character to be tsundere, heavily leaning into the character being emotionally incompetent and just generally being a dick. This... almost too well fits the changes to both Vash and Wolfwoods characters. Stamp!Wolfwood is now squarely a tsundere and a bit of a dick, as well as dark and brooding, rather then a charming if gruff and rough around the edges character that is goofy and kind (but still dark and brooding). In the meantime, Vash is further feminized, his righteous anger replaced by passivity, fitting that role of a female character perhaps a little too well.

The rest of stampede has been heavily revamped to cater to a modern Japanese audience; this can be seen with the use of Japanese ranking systems within the Eye of Micheal that didn't exist, the stripping of a lot of Christian themes from the show, the swap to a sci-fi genre instead of western and the re-vamping of the character designs. In a similar way, revamping the characters into character types and tropes the Japanese audience is familiar with wouldn't be a stretch; and especially so tropes found within yaoi that very easily can invite shipping, if you as a director recognize the potential of Vashwood as a ship to get people invested into a show. Which, quite evidently, the director may aware of, as he's been liking copious amounts of fanart, including Vashwood. He also has a quote attributed to him about how Vash acts as both a female and male character. So, did the feminization of Vash and heavily emphasized tsundere attitude of Wolfwood come about as (at least a part of) a result of a yaoi bait ploy to get people invested into tristamp? Honestly, I don't know, but it fits the tropes so well that some parts of the stamp!vashwood rubs me the wrong way (even if I'm marinating myself within the fandom). It's especially fishy that one of the people involved with the production is liking vashwood stuff shows that people involved in making decisions for the show are aware (and even encouraging) the ship. The fandoms also been around for quite a while, so it would be easy enough to tap into the fandom to see what was popular--and what they could potentially exploit. Interestingly, the way they're setting up tristamp also leans into yaoi bait for Knives x Vash as well, heavily leaning into Knives being like 'everything I did was for you Vash' in an obvious way, which wasn't really the case with trimax... But that's another can of worms. More attention, the better I suppose.

If it's true, characters where changed for more shipping potential, does this matter really? In a grand scheme of things, no. I mean, yaoi bait is obviously utilized in many anime media, just look at Drrr! and the shizuo x izaya ship. The author is plenty aware of what they are doing and leaning hard into it, knowing its popularity, and exploiting that. So it goes. Obviously, its not necessarily a 'bad change' if they decided to change the characters partly for shipping; that's something people get to decide for themselves. Besides, this new iteration of trigun with a more feminine Vash allows for a heavier emphasis on bodily autonomy, especially in regards to femininity as that one post linked above goes into. However, that said, does it matter to me, who is chewing through drywall thinking about the complexities of Wolfwood and Vash and their relationship in trimax? Yeah, absolutely. A little more on that below.

Personal opinions on everything above

If you don't want to read me griping on personally about tristamp then you can just skip this section. It's just me being boring and predictable.

Personally, I miss the og versions of Wolfwood and Vash; I miss the righteous anger that Vash has, I miss their designs and big shoulders and Wolfwoods goofiness and kindness. As well, as much as I love the trans headcanons that are coming out of stampede, as a masc leaning NB individual I really enjoyed the masculine but also emotionally sensitive version of Vash. This especially so as a part of me feels uncomfortable that people look at a male character that is essentially fulfilling a feminine role and go, oh, he's an afab transman, specifically because of his close connotations with femininity. Like, fuck gender expectations and norms and all that, but for me I'm a bit uncomfortable with that assertion (btw this is not me being like u guys need to stop--we're all allowed our opinions, and y'all seem to be enjoying yourself, so go ham I guess). Also, just personally, I've never particularly identified with feminine characters, especially passive female characters, which stamp!Vash very much feels like.

Perhaps part of it is also that I relate a great amount to og!Vash's righteous anger over everything that is occurring, being a part of a cultural minority myself, and being so terribly angry over how I've seen my people be treated. I've also got an abusive sibling with anger issues that lashes out, so seeing Vash struggle with his relationship with Knives, being so terribly angry over everything Knives has put him through (technically, more about others then himself but I digress), along with his confusion and dilemma over still caring about and loving his sibling is also so very validating. So stripping that underlying righteous anger about everything to just make him sad™ makes him less relatable to me. Where is your anger over everything??? where is it?? Come on man, bare your teeth to the world.

Maybe also part of it is also related to just... acknowledging that male characters can be kind. This is probably related to why I dislike that ww has just become a tsundere and kind of a dick. Give him his friendly charisma and kindness back u cowards, I'll beat you with a stick. Dark brooding tsundere's are dime a dozen! Rough around the edges and dangerous but still kind and a bit silly and friendly men who are riddled with guilt? Shiningly beautiful.

Overall, all meta analysis and conspiracy theories (character flattening of wolfwood and vash to fit yaoi tropes) aside, I guess what I'm trying to say is that my 🔥 spicy 🔥 trigun/vashwood opinion is that I don't particularly like this very heavily feminized version of Vash which the fandom seems to be quite happily enjoying. This is both because his righteous anger is stripped out which I relate too and that I (masc NB) feel somewhat uncomfortable that he's often considered a afab transman due to specifically his feminine traits.

EDIT (MAR 27): a post script with further thoughts I suppose, especially after reading this post by @paiteyy , which describes the stripping of more canonical queerness within Stampede--and the way specifically that Meryl seems to be given some of Wolfwoods roles from trimax, in relation to likely making her stampedes 'canonical' ship... in comparison to how trimax Wolfwood and Vash spend a majority of the time together and form deep emotional connections. If they are rearranging tristamp to further cement Meryl into a heavier role of love interest, then it would make sense for her to take over some of Wolfwoods actions. This also falls in line with how they've gone out of their way to give Meryl a bigger backstory and create conditions for character growth... while simultaneously simplifying many of the other characters, especially Wolfwood. Interestingly, this actually falls in line with the tristamp creators being very invested and shuffling things around to fit shipping tropes to rope in a bigger audience; by moving Meryl to the front they can get a canonical het ship for the general audience (much like the 98 version did in a way--cause clearly every show the mc needs a clear love interest), while also ensuring to lean into sub-textual yaoi tropes to rope in others which would be interested in queer ships.

Also photo ID's were added :D

PLUS: here's the link to more of my meta posts if you liked this.

#trigun #trigun meta #trimax #tristamp #trigun manga #trigun maximum #trigun 98 #wolfwood #vash the stampede #nicholas d. wolfwood #opinion peice aha #hugin rambles #hugin speaks #vashwood #yeah its definitely leaning into vash's already present femininity but also. dont like #trigun vash #trigun comparison #theres a few posts about that have definitely helped me coalesce my thoughts #i see u the post about vash's anger #also to the one person that made a comment on the vashwood discord server im in about yaoi tropes. u were the one that really sparked #the coalescing of this thoughts into something more tangible #also yes im aware that tristamp is a prolouge in a way. will they fix the characterization #nah i dont think so #me: do i wanna write up something people might not like. ahhhhh SURE why not #to my two friends ive already talked the ear off about this who didn't know shit what i was talking about i dedicate this post to u #also yeah yeah im aware trimax is not all of the trigun manga but look. look. i dont eant to write out trimanga or some shit. trimax is #fast. easy. perfect for my lazy lil ass #me: am i gonna actually verify my observations like a good person who talks about meta? #my lazy ass: nah this is fine actually. secondary sources only baby!!! #god why is this. so long

[tomboyyyaoi]

things ive been noticing in stampede that i love (manga spoilers for new fans, be warned)

vash is scared of knives, like explicitly hes terrified of him

theyr really hammering in that vash and meryl are similar, i hope they do something with this, i wanna make a seperate post abt it u kno i love my vashmeryls

the gung ho guns have changed a lot (really starting to notice the absence of rai-dei, midvalley and dominique) but im so intrigued by the changes, im excited to see what they do w lil elendira and i really hope livio still manages to become loveable

in ep3 when knives asks the recurring "whos side are you on?" question vash seems shocked, like hes noticing ppl keep asking him that

roberto warming up to meryl

vash cant meet meryl in the eye, in both scenes where she confronts him its like hes deliberately not looking her in the eye, even in ep3 when he turns to her to say he doesnt deserve to cry hes still not meeting her gaze

i can see a huge emotional break coming for vash, maybe itll have to do with meryl encouraging him to let it go (like the scene in the manga after he kills legato), maybe itll come from a certain death we all know is coming and are dreading who knows but i can feel it in my bones

were probably seeing vash's arm flashback as well as some of the body horror from the manga from how much theyve shown theyr committed to the darker tone

anyway thats all i can think of

#trigun #trigun stampede

[anachronistic-falsehood]

OK you've won me over. Where do I get into trigun.

KOZZAX I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED. ok first of all

here’s where you can read the best translation of the manga. the official translation is good too and that’s the one i personally read the first time, but if you go searching for it you may also end up finding a Very Shitty translation that's very confusing to read, so reading the fan overhaul is probably your safest bet 👍 i've heard that this translation is more cohesive and understandable than even the official one so here u go!! start with trigun volumes one and two and then go onto trigun maximum. there are extras like trigun multiple bullets for when ur done the whole thing if u want BUT FIRST!!!

there are also two anime: trigun 1998 and trigun stampede. ^this is the site i use to watch them but u can probably find them on whatever anime site u personally like to use!! 98 is directly based off the manga for the most part, but it ended before the manga did so they took a lot of creative liberties by the end and it ended up being very different (in a good way!! i like them both a lot). and there's trigun stampede which is a 2023 reboot of trigun, mostly based off the original manga (you can tell it's a reboot meant for new audiences but there are a lot of aspects of the manga that are still present and it's really good, it's still in progress and we're waiting for season 2)!! all three versions are very cool :3

i would recommend you go through trigun with the manga first (it will ruin you emotionally and it is my personal favourite version of trigun, if you don't watch either anime at least read the manga PLEASE), then the 98 anime (it's so charming, also extremely devastating in a completely different way than the manga), and then trigun stampede (ALSO devastating, a lot more outright angsty at the beginning than the other two but it's still very good).

you will also see that there is a third thing in the results there called badlands rumble. that is a movie that is meant to take place in the trigun 98 universe. it's pretty good, some of the characterization is off but it's still extremely entertaining and maintains a lot of the charm of trigun 98 so you can definitely give it a watch if you want!! it's a feel good movie for me. it's absolutely ridiculous. i love it so much

also one more thing. there's a guy named midvalley the hornfreak. he plays a saxophone that kills people. if that doesn't make u wanna read or watch trigun i don't know what does

#friend tag :3 #whiskey yelling into the void #removing the trigun tag from this post bc somebody got upset about me making this post the way i did?? idk #anyway <3 #love and peace on planet earth

[feekins]

okokok thoughts and things and whatever translation weirdness I find as I re-read ch 1 of Trigun Maximum vol 5

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

another interesting chapter title translation discrepancy! Dark Horse calls this one "The City, and then the Banquet of the Dogs" while the Overhaul calls it "The City, and then the Feast of the Hounds".

(Dark Horse on top, Overhaul on bottom)

...apples 🥺 biblical stuff. and things. maybe. and now I'm thinking about July's destruction as a metaphor for God banishing humanity from the Garden of Eden. or something.

on a happier note, can you imagine - geoplant orchards?! 🤩🤩🤩

(Dark Horse on left, Overhaul on right)

minor translation discrepancy here, but both kinda work imo? either way, it definitely sounds in-character for Vash to drop everything to hang with the local kids =u=

so. cute. his lil outfit. and working at the diner. getting to know all the regulars. already, you get a sense for how Vash would like...fully immerse himself wherever he went, if that makes sense.

anyway, this is interesting - Dark Horse going with first name, while the Overhaul goes with last name.

Count Revenent Vasques...

👀

I mean, Dark Horse gives you the gist of it, but again, I love how the Overhaul rly spells things out.

...why is it that it's only like 18-19 years after I first read this that I'm realizing that this whole spread is literally Hoppered dropping down to splatter Zazie?

WORM ANGY 😡

Dark Horse's thing here tracks with how they previously (erroneously, albeit the mistake is understandable) grouped Hoppered, Midvalley, and Zazie together - by which I mean Dark Horse's translation implies that this "kill Vash and desert Knives" plot is something all 3 of them are in on. the Overhaul, however, makes it clear (again, in previous chapters) that Zazie is not part of that - Zazie's kinda just along for the ride. so yeah, given that context, the Overhaul's translation here makes sense =u=

again - the Overhaul's translation makes more sense here.

also, just...man, Meryl's rly hanging in there through all this, isn't she? being kidnapped, learning that Vash has a brother and that they're both plants, seeing someone dismembered and then literally splattered into a pulp right in front of her... 😣

#trigunbookclub #text postan 2k23

[veilder]

veillll i need to know how u feel about midvalley the hornfreak

YES!!!!!!! I actually shouted that when I saw this, hell yeah!!!!! >:D Omg, you have no idea, i love this freak sm?!?! He’s just a fuckin guy who plays the saxophone evilly!! How—! How do you even do such a thing?! It’s amazing!!! Jazz freestyle has never been more deadly or deranged!! I could just as easily see him doing a gig at a bar for rent money as setting up an elaborate plan to murder everyone in a concert hall!!! What a freak! A Hornfreak!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!

#asks #ask games #Trigun #midvalley the hornfreak #WHAT A FUCKIN LEGEND!!! #ONE OF THE GUYS OF ALL TIME!!!! #YEAH!!!! #🎷🎷🎷

[from-aina-to-zulaikha]

recapping 2020, the year of the pandemic

well.... who would’ve thought this year would go down DOWN like this...... i remember 31st december 2019 we went out with sonsaengnim and some korean meleis to go dinner together at 4 fingers midvalley,,, went to dataran merdeka and watch amazing drones performance.....new year concert with friends.........suddenly on 16th of march malaysia opted for lockdown cus the situation went seriously serious. covid-19, coming from china now is announced as pandemic, people lost their jobs, ‘twas hard for students but i guess everyone’s got used to it. online classes.....online exams......concerts are postponed...flights are cancelled....sigh

i remember earlier this year, it was february i think, i was out in suria klcc sitting alone at starbucks, waiting for my dad to finish his work and suddenly i got a call from embassy of the republic of korea saying i got offered for a 2-weeks scholarship where i could visit korea! i was EXCEPTIONALLY happy. like. damn. i can go to korea and explore it first. well of course i still will go to korea sooner or later but this is an experience that i didnt wanna lose! i can visit the cultural places, learn languages, meet new people, like internationally....and everything is free....it was scheduled in july this year but covid didnt allow me.... well i kinda got sad because i really wanted to experience something like that once in my life. i was so happy i got to grab the chance because, yeah, i won the korean speech contest last year so it was such a golden opportunity for me! but ngeh, sokay, i guess not my rezeki.......

then when lockdown started we had our break for 2 weeks i think, and all the workplaces, universities and schools decided to continue with the all-new online learning and meetings.... microsoft teams, zoom, google meet, everything is used worldwide. so like it was hard at first and i was one of the people who HATED ONLINE CLASSES SO FUCKING MUCH. but nasib la, online exams pun i managed to get 4 flat for semester 1 and 2....... but for semester 3.... i got 3.92. alhamdulillah!

and so..... we finally sat for our TOPIK 2 exam which was postponed twice from april, to may, and finally to july. 12 july. FINALLY. but then the 2nd topik exam also got cancelled due to the current situation. 

RESULTS DAY. i checked my result and i was SUPER SHOCKED cus i got LEVEL 5!!!!!! LEVEL FUCKING 5 BRO HOW THE HELL i mean i didnt even think that i did well in 듣기 and 쓰기 and 읽기 oh my god.... bersyukurnya. meaning i can already secure my place in any university in korea. alhamdulillah. and so i decided to apply for chemical engineering in sungkyunkwan university and mechanical engineering in hanyang university. p/s: papa gave me iphone 11 as present :))))) yippie

but then.......my plans went upside down ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ chemical engineering was my first choice but then i actually decided to accept hanyang university’s offer. HAHAHAHAHA THE MAIN REASON WHY IS....... I GOT A SCHOLARSHIP AAAAAAAA because i got level 5 in topik so i got 50% tuition fee reduction and if u calculate it i will receive approximately ~RM10K++++ holy shit bro i love money. it was a hard hard decision to make. did solat istikharah a few times.... and unexpectedly i actually dreamt about going to hanyang with syake, and ain.... (they also 고민 about this too) so that WAS the answer. hanyang university. 

at this point i actually am so happy cus i did receive 2 scholarships at the same time....plus the one that i got from embassy but was cancelled though...total of scholarships = 3...im so grateful and so so overly ecstatic that i am given so much blessings through out the year. one goes, and another comes. tak sia sia amalkan surah al-Waqiah every week. the effects are so so fast, so so rapidly appearing one by one im so overwhelmed. alhamdulillah

tmi: i actually had this one theory where i used to dream a lot at night BUT solely about skies, stars, moon, clouds, and other outer space shit.... i dreamt of a meteor crash belakang rumah, looking at the moon with my mom because there was a weird phenomenon of the moon....a lot of times...i want to say that it relates to my life and my future... because seeing how much i receive from time to time its just so amazing, alhamdulillah alhamdulillah terima kasih ya Allah

we also planned to go for umrah end of this year but then it was all plans...so,,,,, insha allah next time.

another one last magical thing that happened to me this year is.... stray kids <3 god i love stray kids so much. one of my coping mechanism. watched their online concert with myra at gisuksa. so so so happy. bought their merch hoodie. so so grateful to be a STAY. so positive, so special, so lovely. their music, top tier. i stan self-producing idols <3 stray kids will glow more and more in 2021 im speaking into reality. thank you so much stray kids for adding more and more happiness into my life <3 

honestly i never expected to become a kpop stan again.... bcs last time was in 2017??? like i just used to listen to their songs but not a hardcore fan cus i didnt even know who the members are hahahhhaa. but yea unexpectedly, impromptu, unplannedly, im now doing it again. when i saw bang christopher chan, i saw my future. ahahhaahah i cant help but stray kids are the greatest group i have ever seen. every each of them are so so precious and im so lucky to be a stay. 

this year, it was hard for us but alhamdulillah.. it’s all good now. im so happy i get to fly with my korean meleis. all of us. alhamdulillah. to more adventures and happiness in korea! february 2021, degree life here we go!

2020 RESOLUTIONS RECAP:

1. get (at least) level 5 for topik 2 in this april and october! | ACHIEVED

2. 4 flat for foundation semester 2 and 3, insha Allah i can do it. | SEM 2 ACHIEVED, SEM 3 ALHAMDULILLAH HAHHA

3. receive an offer from sungkyunkwan university seoul in chemical engineering. aamiinn!! | result skku next week so idk yet but mesti dapat, but alhamdulillah gerak hanyang lu hahahha chemical engineering celah mana tah

4. DIET. DIET. DIET. less eating, more gym! road to at least 55 kg before yuhak! | more gym, yes. lose weight, no :( i guess i have to jaga makan in korea later on

5. flawless! stop that eczema and keep going aina! you are beautiful and you will always be beautiful! | STILL ONGOING WOOHOOO i see progress

6. no crush, no boyfriend. (yet) AND never get attached to people who considers me as 2nd option. move on from dennis, for fucks sake  | dah lama move on errr. tapi huhu sedikit terluka juga lah tahun ini

7. recite Quran every day, khatam Al-Quran, amalkan surah al-Waqiah, al-Kahfi and al-Mulk. closer, closer and closer to Allah aza wa jalla and never be away from Him the Almighty. | still ongoing. insha allah constant

8. jauhkan diri dari maksiat, no zina mata, zina hati and all det zina | shuh shuh go away

9. always lowkey, always tawadhuk. | insha allah

10. focus on yourself. prioritise family. | YES SELF LOVE SELF CARE

11. give more to people, and Allah will give more to me. be grateful, and Allah will give more to me :) | YESSSSSSS DEFINITELY FACTS

12. ALWAYS help people the best way i could | insha allah

13. if things go hard, never stop. take rests but NEVER STOP. you will always succeed aina <3 im confident of that | you did great this year aina! more are coming your way and i believe you can do it

#post

[therealamberchia]

Have a nice day! 🌟 . Thanks for the Free hair check & massage last night #AvedaMy Thanks for having us @avedamy & lovely to see u always @fiqrieisme Yes. Get your hair check for Free this weekend at Midvalley. ❤️❤️ . #amberchia #hair #haircheck #loveyourhair #lbootd #lovebonitomy #ThomasSaboMy #thomassabo #amberchiaacademy (at Mid Valley Megamall)

#lovebonitomy #haircheck #loveyourhair #thomassabomy #avedamy #lbootd #amberchiaacademy #thomassabo #amberchia #hair

[feekins]

aaaaaand here are my thoughts and things and whatever translation weirdness I find as I re-read ch 1 of Trigun Maximum vol 6!

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

I've already commented on how this chapter starts here.

(Dark Horse on top, Overhaul on bottom)

so this is interesting. Dark Horse seems to imply Wolfwood knows about as much about what Vash is as Meryl does - whereas the Overhaul makes it clear that Wolfwood is in the know, and he's not telling.

this isn't a translation discrepancy - I just love Vash and Brandon's dynamic, and this bit especially just. tickles me.

and across the next two pages, I love the contrast we see between Murdock and Meryl - someone with an itchy trigger finger wanting guns to "protect others" VS someone who was given a gun for her own protection and who broke down the first time she shot a person.

(Dark Horse on left, Overhaul on right)

just wanna point out that there IS a difference between Dark Horse's more general usage of "women, most of all" and the Overhaul's more nuanced usage of "a woman like you" here. recall ch 3 of Trigun Maximum vol 4 where, in the last Papa Stryfe flashback we saw, he says (in the Overhaul) "You know how much I despise guns, but...a tiny girl like you has to carry one." from that, we know the concerning factor isn't that Meryl's a woman, but that she's small.

...I wonder if this is a case of literal VS figurative/more nuanced translations...

also, I'm rly struck by how Vash interacts with Murdock throughout this chapter. here comes this asshole being all rude to him, talking shit about his marksmanship, after which Vash. politely applauds this asshole's. and treats him like a person. like...he doesn't make himself into a doormat for Murdock - he lets him have his space and do his thing while simultaneously holding true to his own. there's such compassion for humanity and such strength in his own path and conviction in that. like...Vash doesn't get defensive about his marksmanship - in the end, regardless of whether ppl do or don't understand it, he has his beliefs and his way of doing things, and he's sticking to it. 🥹

just a little comparison - they basically say the same thing, but ngl "ohhh, look at me! I fired a bullet! banzaiii!!" has lived rent-free in my head from the moment I first read it 🤣

(LORE: this page of my physical copy is fucked up from printing down that left side, hence the mucky comparison pic 😅)

...I just realized they're referring to that whole fiasco with Hoppered and Midvalley and Zazie and Legato and Elendira;;;;;;,

oh Dark Horse, u so silly~

I'M NOT CRYING - WE'RE ALL CRYING 😭💕

#trigunbookclub #text postan 2k23

[feekins]

I don't have a whole lot to say about ch 5 of Trigun Maximum vol 5, but here we go!

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

there weren't any context-changing translation discrepancies this time, which was a nice change of pace =u=

Hoppered's face as Legato makes him shoot Midvalley...

...and his reaction to Legato taking his front wheel to the body, just... 😭😭😭

(and then creature!Vash MAKING LEGATO STOP AAAAAAAAA)

(Dark Horse on left, Overhaul on right)

not rly context-changing, but. for comparison purposes. also I've always loved the butterflies here =u=

(Dark Horse on top, Overhaul on bottom)

again, comparison purposes, with the Overhaul being, as always, much more straightforward - which made this bit hit harder for me this read-through 😣

can I just say - I LOVE that both Meryl and Milly have their crucial moments in this arc! where they step in despite everything and, in doing so, make a huge difference!!!

these two panels have always kinda confused me, tho, given they come one right after another, after Legato's taken multiple shots to the face 🫤

#trigunbookclub #text postan 2k23

[feekins]

yaaaaaaay planty stuff in ch 3!!! here are my thoughts and things and whatever translation weirdness I find as I re-read Trigun Maximum vol 5! :D

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

(Dark Horse on top, Overhaul on bottom)

Midvalley talking about the explosives - just a lil translation discrepancy here

I rly like how both translations keep the original inky, brushed-on-looking ?!s

(Dark Horse on left, Overhaul on right)

"hey bro I just wanna talk" *subjects u 2 medical experimentation without ur consent*

Knives, you are. SUCH an ass. LOVE that 4 u.

(also, I recall someone talking about how Knives treats Vash as an extension of himself and. yeah. that + perhaps a bit of bossy older sibling. but it's mostly Knives being an ass.)

DOCTA 🤩

I think it's significant what the Overhaul includes about how the power of Vash's gate is greater than anything Doctor's ever seen. makes you wonder just how much more powerful the twins' gates are compared to that of non-independent plants...

also, Knives just. putting words in Doctor's mouth like that. y'know humans aren't always the most logical, right, Knives? it's almost like...idk. to me, it feels like Knives is projecting his fear and how he chooses to deal with it onto humanity 🫤

fuckin' Knives, man. just...

...look at him. look at that face. look at that easy smile. UUUUUUGH I wanna MAUL him (affectionate). Knives, you utter shit.

ahem.

anyway.

an interesting little translation discrepancy on the next page. in response to Vash asking what this (arm going all angel-y) is, Knives says "It's power" in Dark Horse's translation, while in the Overhaul's, he says "It's our power."

and on the page after that, Knives says something that piqued my interest (quoting the Overhaul here, but both translations say basically the same thing): "It can be hard to handle at first." so now I'm wondering about how Knives discovered his abilities, and what happened the first time he used his angel arm... 🤩

another instance of Dark Horse being weirdly vague, while the Overhaul is much more straightforward

as I was reading this part, I just...the way Knives' questions are literally framed here, I imagine him sounding more and more serious, increasingly enraged...

Dark Horse vague, Overhaul not

I FUCKIN FORGOT ABOUT VASH'S LIL SWITCHAROO HERE?!?!?!

also.....this is my first time reading this chapter with the understanding that all those ppl who went missing in the destruction of July weren't atomized - they were fucking sucked into Vash's gate 🫠

#trigunbookclub #text postan 2k23 #don't mind me - just an indiscriminate Knives enjoyer here =u=