i talked about this when the finale was just airing but I think it was a fantastic choice, thematically, to kill off nai by burning him alive. I mean visually it was beautiful and striking and utterly horrifying, but if you think about it in the metaphorical,
the fact that Binghe won is making me picture him standing on top of a podium crying his eyes out bc now there’s no way shizun will let him bottom so like. mo ran plucks the trophy from his arms and bingy just lets him, sobbing
I actually cannot cope with how much I love Wolfwood’s bitchass swagger. He’s just walking around in a dipshit priest outfit quoting gospel and shooting people with a cig in his mouth AND he’s tortured. also he has kind eyes. I want him carnally
ok wait let’s talk about the framing here rq
#TRIGUN
notice the close up on nai vs the backed out shot of vash. “love for humanity” but the shot depersonalizes him, his face (the most expressive, humanizing feature) is concealed. Vash’s love for humanity makes him less of a
me, in tears: nai was SCARED why don’t any of you understand that he was scared he was frightened out of his mind he wanted to live he wanted to be happy he wanted a world without fear!! he wanted to feel safe!! he wanted a world without death and anger and terror!!!! FUCK!!
Sorry. Sorry. Knives burning to death in the tristamp finale as a visual metaphor for how his ideals burn him up from the inside and how he’s willing to be consumed by them. A symbolic representation of how willing he is to have everything be Vash’s fault and avoid accountability
every time I think about the way millions knives hated (loved (hated (loved))) his mother I go a little more batshit. killing your mother dead because she betrayed you in a way she cannot possibly apologize or make up for. giving her a final chance to live. her shaking her head.
see i think it's interesting that the main perception of nai seems to be that he's the stone cold twin, emotions unreadable, and vash is the expressive one. close! close!! that's what they want you to think :)
long thread ahead, re the twins and the masks they wear:
#TRIGUNSTAMPEDE
the way nai’s last words to vash aren’t words of hatred or anger or fear, not even derision. it’s a goddamn promise. “I’ll win a place for us! A paradise…for us.” tristamp knives is a different breed from the other adaptations. the sheer contrast is staggering.
sorry have to fire gunshots every so often so the rent stays low so INCEST! INCEST! STEAMY BROTHER ON BROTHER ACTION! FUJOSHI SCREAMING! TWINCEST 69! BROCON MOMCON SEXO SEXO!
I genuinely think it’s kind of hilarious how you will excuse wound fucking but you draw the line at incest like. where people choose to draw their problematic lines can be so incredibly off the wall
@imsweeps
oh my god. the domesticity and softness of the hidden scenes vs the violence and heartbreak of the full piece ;—; I am feeling so many emotions abt the one with them kissing on the desk ;—; this is so lovely
this post escaped containment to the non saverem family incest truthers and it turns out the answer is no, we are not ready to unpack that (I am deeply annoyed because now people are discoursing in my mentions)
the sheer amount of depth and care put into tristamp is fuckin staggering. like. studio orange has been working on this for 5 years and just developing the tech for the incredibly expressive faces took 2 years? christ. it's so obviously a passion project for the team.
because if you take a second look at nai, that guy wears every single emotion on his sleeve. all the love, all the hatred, every ounce of hurt when he's betrayed. just watch ep 9. that man's facial muscles are working overtime. even in '98 he's expressive, at times comically so.
#plantcest
domesticity*
Nai. Nai.”
Knives blinks awake slowly. His bedroom—because this is his bedroom, right?—is golden with the new morning, sunwashed and bright. And next to him, his chin propped on a scarred hand, Vash is smiling.
[*is it?]
person. he’s a slave to a concept. vs nai, right, whose expressive face gets a close up shot. his love for vash is deeply personal, it’s violently selfish, and paradoxically here it humanizes him far more than vash getting crucified.
I just think it’s so goddamn funny that the one thing that can make Vash go absolutely batshit insane is his brother. The only thing that can make him consider shooting someone, shooting innocents, is the thought that they’re stopping him in his quest to kick Knives’s ass
hey. hey. ever think about how tristamp nai and 98 wolfwood have similar last words.
a paradise with no pain, no fear, no humiliation.
a world with no stealing, or killing.
hey. hey. ever think about how they both wanted to live in that world with vash.
ok bye
while after episode 3
#trigunstampede
loses the narrative sillies, it never lets go of the physical comedy. case in point, noted terrorist millions knives crashing through a window facefirst and starfished because he’s too pissed at his little shit brother to think straight
// plantcest cannibalism
when I say yes let knives eat vash I’m really talking about the all consuming emptiness of feeling bitterly unloved all the time and it being so intense that you think maybe the only way to make it stop is to have someone live inside of you forever.
nai’s love looks a lot like “I am the only one worthy of devouring you” and Vash’s love looks a lot like “I was made to be devoured by everyone except people i deem irredeemable. the only irredeemable person is my brother” right up to the end of trimax and that’s the tragedy
"don't kv shippers realize people are uncomfortable with the ship" i mean. yeah. i'm not gonna force anyone to read kv fic at gunpoint the same way no mshwd shipper would do that to me. but it does annoy me when you think ur shipping preferences make you a better person
it’s about nai’s ideals and convictions burning him alive. it’s about his rage and grief consuming him. his brother’s own convictions flaying him to the bone, until all that’s left is the one thing propelling him forward: that idea of “Eden.”
*grabs vash by the shoulders* HE DID IT FOR YOU. HE DID ALL OF THIS FOR YOU. DOES THE GUILT EAT YOU ALIVE, STAMPEDE? DOES IT GNAW AT YOU? DOES IT HAUNT YOU? THAT NAI IS BUILDING EDEN FOR YOU? THAT HE CUT YOUR ARM OFF FOR YOU? THAT EVERYTHING WAS ALWAYS FOR YOU?
fifth moon, July, and ep11 are rape scenes. they’re heavily allegorical, symbolic of real life violations of bodily sanctity and autonomy and they are perpetrated by the victim’s brother. in fact fifth moon is so viciously a rape that I was surprised it’s not more talked about
the secret to lbh winning every poll so far is that the scum villain fandom is secretly just ten thousand shen yuans. we are all one of his alt accounts
are we ready to talk about the pseudoincestuous parallels in vashwood that reference kv and livwood. ARE WE READY TO TALK ABOUT THEM YET BECAUSE I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT!!!
bitches will say plantcest shippers don’t have media literacy when some of the most nuanced and painfully insightful takes on knives and Vash’s characters have been from my fellow kvk enthusiasts. Hm.
An immense part of Trigun are the themes of exploitation, body autonomy, and incredibly personal power dynamics. The SA is vital to these themes and make them deeply horrifying in a way that I doubt would have been as impactful otherwise.
I think it’s deeply significant that nai burns himself to death in the end, that it’s vash holding the weapon but powerless to stop his brother from throwing himself into it. A tidy bit of symbolism.
and instead it’s his own fatal stubbornness that has him setting himself on fire to reach his goals. and isn’t he similar to vash, in that regard? don’t they have the same reckless, foolhardy devotion to the causes they champion?
the aftermath of fifth moon and July both are also allegorical for a rape survivor’s battle with trauma. Vash’s psyche is so scarred after July that he forgets all of it, and after fifth moon he literally abandons everything in a mad flight for his own sanity.
there’s an argument to be made about the purifying connotations of flame or the holiness of being set alight on a pyre for your beliefs. but l do think it’s very significant that this was a slow, drawn out death. Nai is denied the mercy of a single blast, like in the manga,
big fan of codependency that edges towards illness. very big fan of two people unable to function correctly without the other close, whether in sight or touch. absolutely huge fan of sick individuals who should not be separated. ever. or smth horrible happens
I think they’re deeply necessary to the plot, and to understanding both vash as a character and knives as a villain. knives is a rapist; you can’t really get around that allegory. and they add to the horror. in fact, they’re central to the horror.
#swarmpede
#zazievash
cw: mpreg, eggs mention
“So,” says Vash, looking over to the windowsill where Zazie is perched, their legs dangling over the side and kicking gently. If he looks at Zazie out of the corner of his eye, he can just barely see the gossamer of wings.
can i just say that out of all the gung ho guns. livio has the coolest moniker. you cannot fucking beat "livio the doublefang" in coolness without veering into cringe (the punisher) or so far into cringe it becomes sick again (tri-punisher of death). rai-dei the blade who
what the "DON'T WOOBIFY VASH! HE'S ACTUALLY DIABLO!" discourse misses is that vash himself is actually begging you, the reader, to woobify him at any given moment
literally my favorite flavor of plantcest is when vash gets angry and vengeful and breaks character a little bit. just for knives. he only ever breaks character for knives
like it is NOT a coincidence that vash finds himself a big brother caretaker type to shack up with and it is NOT a coincidence that wolfwood falls for a crybaby with a soft heart. IT IS NOT.
"I'll destroy that twink," they say not realizing that twink will outlast. That twink will ride you into the sunset until they've drained your goddamned soul. That twink is a secret twunk and you will put honor on his name.
#TRIGUN
I know everyone and their mother is frothing at the mouth about it but. “Who are you?” in the English dub. Good lord. It’s like Vash is seeing Knives for the first time and realizing his twin has become completely unrecognizable.
#TRIGUN
I think there’s something important to be said in how strongly the narrative puts Meryl in the role of the witness. From the start, she’s a reporter. Roberto emphasizes this over and over again: they’re journalists. They don’t get involved. They’re there to bear witness,
trigun fandom. you have neglected the absolute meme headcanon that vash is a bisexual plant with perfect flowers. as in he can self pollinate because he’s got pollen and ovules!! let this man reproduce asexually!! IT WOULD BE SO FUNNY
you consume enough trigun you realize knives is not in fact a competent scary villain. he’s a competent scary villain AND a complete fucking loser (my new brand is nai slander)
being trans and a fanfiction writer is very funny because you will very rarely see me write trans characters. my fantasy is having my physical body and my brain's feelings on the matter match up so you WILL be reading fics chock full of dick envy
throwing up throwing UP puppy tops begging the bottom to let them hit like please I wanna be inside you it’s always so good ahh I wanna fuck you so bad and bottoms who get to be all sweet and indulgent about letting them inside
asking his mother to pick him over humanity and she refuses. continuing the argument with his brother for the next hundred and he refuses. awful. awful. knives you are one fucked up lil trash muppet but in your position I would probably also be a little crazy
I think there’s a lot to be said about how Vash talks about his mom like she’s his dead girlfriend and how Knives talks about his mom like a jilted lover but are we, as a society, ready to unpack that?
knives can’t forgive rem. of course he can’t. it’s the most natural thing in the world to be betrayed by your parent and feel it was unforgivable. but she’s your mother. she’s your mother. she’s your mother.
there's a reason wolfwood calls him out on his fake smiles, you know. vash is a people pleaser. he hides his pain frequently, whether that means smiling when he doesn't feel it or hiding behind suddenly-opaque sunglasses. visually, vash gives off the vibe of someone expressive
i think what strikes me about wolfwood is that he's really very gentle. he has kind eyes. yes he commits gross acts of violence but i think he is the kindest executioner on gunsmoke
HAHA I DID IT SOMEHOW!
#VKFest2023
link in replies :)
🌼atticwife
#plantcest
#VK
🌼3.7k
🌼post '98 finale
🌼the unmatched comedy of domesticating a terrorist with your dick
🌼masochist tsudere millions knives + vash weaponizing his brother's praise kink
🌼judgemental meryl cameo
sorry can't take knives seriously literally ever when he starts going off on his delusional chuunibyou rants about saving his race from exploitation. don't even pretend bro you absorbed your sisters into a hivemind and used them to fuel your hatred and fear induced rampage
vash lies to everyone. little white lies. knives doesn't lie to anyone except his brother. there's a gap there that vash can't bridge on his own and it leads to so much delicious tension between the two of them. absolutely stellar writing and visual design from trigun.
@halfpixie_
THE INCREDULOUS LAUGH THAT ESCAPED ME...do you need to see my tboy swag card so i can get in,,,, my boypussy permit,,,my gender visa,,,i'm sorry i'm being foul in your mentions pix i just can't stop wheezing
so then let's talk about vash.
yes, he's extremely expressive (god bless studio orange) in stampede; same for '98 and the manga. but i'd argue he puts a lot more effort into controlling his face than knives does.
YOURE TELLING ME MULTIPLE OFFICIAL SOURCES REFER TO REM AS VASH’S LOVER AND GIRLFRIEND. BE FUCKIN FOR REAL (delighted saverem incest holy trinity enjoyer)
in a fit of anger, i told him how i never wanted him to be my brother and he yelled that he didn't ask for it either. the air smelled like kerosene and my chest was filled with arsenic.
this damn plantcest fic is getting violently derailed by vash being a momcon. dude stop thinking about the way your mom’s wet jeans clung to her knees when your brother is literally naked in front of you
*shakes nai* AND YOU. HE DIDN’T WANT ANY OF IT. HE WOULD HAVE LOVED YOU IF YOU WERE KINDER. DOES THAT KILL YOU, KNIVES? DOES THAT KILL YOU? THAT HE NEVER WANTED ANY OF IT? THAT HIS LOVE WAS CONDITIONAL? THAT HE THINKS YOU’RE A MONSTER? YOU’VE DESTROYED EVERYTHING YOU LOVED.
and unrestrained in their feelings but is, in reality, much more guarded. that isn't to say he's truly an expressionless, stone-cold character, because he obviously isn't, but that he tries to hide his real thoughts much more frequently than his brother.
this is ALSO why post vol10 livvash makes me batshit crazy because YOU WERE THE LITTLE BROTHERS LEFT BEHIND. widowers bound together by mutual tragedy and guilt and pain and the corpse of the man you both loved rotting in the ground. one of you killed him the other one buried him
to have Vash’s existence as living proof that she loved you, as proof she didn’t love you as much, love you enough. knives latching onto vash as the only family he has left the only family he claims.
#VK
#plantcest
cockwarming except like. cringefail cockwarming. nai hops on Vash’s dick so sure he can sit there while vash works or reads or something, so sure he’ll be able to turn off the part of his brain that insists there’s a dick splitting him open. he’s wrong.