Trimax Spoilers - Tumblr Posts
At the con. Straight up "trigunning it." And by "it", Haha, well. Let's justr say. My stampede
With @twonpamobo2015 as wolfwood
Though you’ve long gone cold,
The taste of you lingers on
And haunts all my dreams
im sorry but within the context of trimax seeing vash in '98 say he disaproves of suicide is like. its not funny. but it is truly like.... there is a pathway between That Scene With Rem And The Knife and saying that....... and i want to see it.....
ok so like. maybe im faceblind maybe nightow is just not that creative for faces but we all know vash looks like ww in that one panel in the last chapter of 14. does knives not look like luida tho. short black spiky hair and a cape thing.
i’m back on my trigun bullshit and this time it’s about livio because i saw a wonderful tweet about him a few weeks ago and had to expand my thoughts on him here. it’s been rotating in my brain for a while.
livio is, to me, the most critical character in regards to conveying the overall themes of the series because livio’s whole arc is literally the embodiment of trigun themes. (i would argue that this also extends to his character design - as razlo, he also literally has 3 guns. i know the name is a reference to vash, but the fact it can also apply to livio is something i think worth noting.)
livio is someone who does IMMENSE harm but eventually chooses to do better, because of vash’s kindness. and then he works on spreading that kindness to others. his is a story of experiencing harm, causing immense harm, and then eventually choosing to do better and be better. vash’s message is that he truly believes that people can change and can be better, and there’s no character that embodies that in the way that livio does. an adaption of trigun that doesn’t have livio is an adaption that, to me, cannot fully relay the themes and message of trigun.
and yes. i’m well aware that 98 trigun was made before the manga was completed. however, i would argue that this is why the emotional core of the ending of 98 trigun falls a little flat - livio is integral to wolfwood’s arc (brothers! fighting to the death! there is a reason this is so so so many chapters in trimax!) and livio is a character that is often narrative foil to legato (loyal to someone who’s destructive to them! sad fucked up traumatic history from a young age! when confronted with vash’s philosophy both say to kill them rather than confront what that kindness means to them!), so if you lack livio’s arc, you miss a significant chunk of the emotional thru line of the story. without livio, wolfwood’s death doesn’t hit quite as hard as it did in trimax. without livio, vash’s message of forgiveness, and that everyone can genuinely be better because their future is a blank ticket not determined by the past, doesn’t hit as hard. without livio, you don’t really get a fucked up someone who does fucked up things learning to be better and do better and grow and be kind, in counterpoint to legato’s arc.
i’m waiting and seeing if stampede actually gets this point, too. i really, really hope it does. like, i love 98 trigun because it is goofy and fun and does hit (or at least try to hit) the emotional beats i wrote about in this novel of a post but it ever so slightly missed the mark in a way that really really irritates me, and stampede has the possibility of actually pulling this emotional arc off. time will tell if it does. (i hope that stampede slows its pacing for the livio/wolfwood fight arc. it’s a lot of chapters in trimax for a reason.)
tl;dr: trigun’s a really hopeful story in a way that really hits hard a lot of the time because the entire core message of trigun is that people can change and can be better even if all they have done up to that point is hurt others. livio’s the embodiment of this.
anyway. have the panel from trimax chap 70 that always makes me Feel Things:
Funniest part of trigun maximum is when the collective consciousness of the hundreds of plants that knives ate forces him to feel like a tiny sliver of regret and he literally crumples to his knees like he's having a heart attack
Second funniest part of trigun is when zazie says to knives "we gunsmoke natives decided to coexist with plants over humans.... not you though because you suck."
i know everyone sees him as second fiddle to knives bullshit but legato is Everything he is the reason the manga Works do you understand. wolfwood alone is not an adequate foil to vash bc he wants to be saved. he sees himself as guilty and recognizes the “wrong” in himself and wants to overcome it (nightmare of the orphans, eyes screaming in pain). his arc is more How can someone be better and still survive, not Should someone be better bc wolfwood ultimately does believe what vash is selling. by comparison, legato asks vash what if i dont want to be saved what if im happy here in the death and misery and cruelty what if i want this and vash’s answer is To Kill Him. he is the only person vash intentionally kills. he doesnt even kill knives bc knives’s plant bullshit is not actually vash’s ideological opposite. legato is. knives is kinda incidental to vash’s ultimate struggle against humanity’s ~dark side~ and how to reconcile that with their ability to grow and be better. i am shaking you by the shoulders do you understand do you fucking get it he is load bearing he is EVERYTHING DO YOU GET IT!!!!!!
wait hi im sorry is the consensus that knives became apple tree at the end of trimax. i thought he just fucked off Did He Die And Become A Tree. Was Millions Knives Fertilizer. i may be misremembering things but. hi. is he an apple tree now. should he be.
the sheer irony of livio's replacement as the last gung-ho gun being named cain. amazing.