Alrightyyyy hi guys. I donât post a lot here but I have a long term Vashwood fic in the works currently. Chapter one is up on my ao3 if you wanna check it outttt
Iâll probs have the second chapter up after I finish my finals beeteedubs đ«¶
since twitter went absolute HAM on volume 10 of trimax the other day I thought I'd contribute. I have to say that the comparison of Wolfwood being like a bride left at the alter is the most accurate. Because let's be completely honest, there is no way that Vash and Wolfie weren't in love. I just can't really think of any way that they weren't.
It's insane.
Anyway. Vash doesn't let Wolfwood have his final words. The words that would've been "I love you." Instead, Vash stops him and says, "don't say anything stupid". He says this right after Wolfwood says he looks better with a smile and that it was "harsh of me to say your smiles were empty".
Through my felt trimax read I didn't really understand why Vash stopped him from talking. I've reread that volume so many times because I feel that the more I read and reread it, the more I understand it.
The church bell, the confetti, and Wolfwood's ring finger still touching the Bride bottle as it slips from his hand. I can't even view it as a rejection.
A thing I really liked about the episode was that as it went on, Vash forgot that he was dreaming. Towards the beginning, he noticed that his hand was real instead of his prosthetic and he realized he was dreaming, and then he's roaming the desert, searching for "the exit". But he quickly forgot about that when his memories started to fade too.
I also wonder if the Knives he saw in the dream was really supposes to be Knives invading his brain, given that the things he was saying to Vash all felt so personal. Especially, "I did it for you."
Like bro.
I don't think he'll be okay after that
But also, since Vash's memories have been lost, that definitely guarantees Eriks right?
Vash and Femininity: Trigun Stampede and its Themes of Bodily Autonomy, Exploitation, and Vague Gender Fuckery
alright sit the fuck down. we're gonna talk about THEMES
I was on Twitter- terrible idea usually, but a couple people I follow made some tweets that got me thinking about Trigun's overall themes, and here we are. So let's talk about some themes in Tristamp! And I'll take a couple looks at Trimax as well, just for fun :3
Let's look at how the showrunners utilize gender roles and exploitation of feminine characters to show how unhealthy Knives' obsession with his ideal of Vash is, and how horrific his exploitation of Vash and the Plants is.
Vash, from the beginning of Tristamp, is someone who cares about people's choices. When people kill others in front of him, he reiterates that whether someone lives or dies is not another person's choice to make. This is something he learned from Rem (a prominent female figure in his life). He refuses to kill people because that is not his choice to make. To kill someone is the ultimate removal of their bodily autonomy. They can no longer make any choices at all; they're dead.
Vash is also someone who has almost no choice in what path his life takes. He's constantly dragged around by outside forces, namely situations that are caused by Knives (which we'll get into later). Vash doesn't make things happen, things happen to Vash. The majority of events that occur are not his fault. He's pushed and pulled in a thousand different directions. His entire life is completely out of his control.
This can be seen as early on in his life as the Fall, something he had no control over and had no idea he even had a part in. Even later, in the ship with Luida and Brad, after he's been rescued from the desert, he's kept in handcuffs right up until he's shown to be of use to them and the Plant on their ship. After that, he could theoretically say "no, I don't want to go to other ships and heal their plants," but he doesn't. He's Vash. He's helpful and nurturing at his core, and these people have done so much for him just by letting him stay, so he'll do whatever they ask, no question.
This carries over into his adulthood. At Jeneora Rock, he goes to look at their Plant at one simple request, doesn't protest when he's dragged into a duel-- he doesn't take initiative unless someone's life is immediately at stake. He lets people tell him what to do and lets himself get dragged around by the wrist. He doesn't even pretend to have control over his life like Trimax Vash does, which I mean. Fair. Why pretend to have a grip on your existence when it's impossible to do anything without a gun pointed at your head?
Vash is a very passive character. He's nurturing, kind, gentle- he's a guy that fits a lot of very typical feminine character stereotypes. If you wrote this same story but made him a woman, I wouldn't bat an eye (but I would definitely be looking at it a lot more critically, what with the amount of stereotypically nurturing/motherly female characters in media already.)
This contrasts directly with Knives. He makes a decision and carries through no matter what stands in his way. He takes initiative. If Vash is a passive character, Knives is an active character. Wherever he goes, he leaves a lasting imprint. He makes shit happen! If outside forces make things happen to him, he'll go out of his way to make sure that particular force doesn't affect him again.
These two tweets I saw are what got me thinking about this originally. I just feel like here's a good place to put them as a segue into talking about episode 11.
Episode 11 is where a lot of this feminine imagery really just. Explodes in your face. IT'S RIGHT THERE. You can't dance around it if you try. And it kind of reaches a peak when the connection reaches 100%, the gate opens, and. well. THIS happens to the Plants.
Plants, in both Trimax and Tristamp, are almost always typically feminine-looking. Knives and Vash are the only two who are male or even masculine at all. Knives, as the most masculine out of all of them, is the one trying to take charge, and mould the world as he sees fit, to a degree that is detrimental to both him and everyone else. And Vash-- passive, feminine, kind and nurturing, whose Angel Arm in the manga always sprouts decidedly feminine-looking Plant parts-- is the one being exploited for Knives' plans. It's no mistake that they made the giant plant formation at the end of ep 11 look like a giant woman that almost resembles Rem.
Vash wants people to make their own choices and keep their autonomy when it comes to their bodies and lives. Knives is the exact opposite. He wants all Plants to become independent and he uses Vash to achieve that goal, without asking what Vash wants or even knowing what the Plants themselves would prefer. He exploits Vash for the soul purpose of trying to make these Plants have Independent Plant babies. He's completely incapable of seeing that his choices are not for the greater good! He thinks he's saving them, but none of his actions are for the good of anyone but himself. Heâs just violating them for his own gain.
They're really leaning into gender roles for these guys, but in a way that screams "HEY, LOOK AT THIS! ISN'T IT FUCKED UP? LOOK AT HOW FUCKED UP THAT IS. LOOK AT THIS, AND BE UNCOMFORTABLE, AND KNOW THAT IT IS FUCKED UP."
Because it is! It's so extremely fucked up. They're using this imagery and these roles, something that makes most of us intrinsically uncomfortable, to drive home how unhealthy Knives relationship with his ideal of Vash is. That's the point. We're supposed to be uncomfortable with this.
Now of course there's some nuance to it. Like, you could see Knives as somewhat of a feminine and/or queer-coded figure as well, ESPECIALLY if you look at some of his panels in the manga, which could in turn lead to themes about infighting and control within marginalized communities, but that might be something for another post. :3
And there's definitely different ways you could take this! Vash, with all this feminine imagery, could be either transfem or transmasc coded, depending on what way you'd rather see it, which could lead into themes of how people outside the norm constantly face a lack of bodily autonomy and are exploited for purposes outside their boundaries. We could also look at Wolfwood and his lack of choice over joining the Eye of Michael and becoming the Punisher, and how masculine men (particularly men of colour) are often forced into violent roles against their will. If we look at Trimax, the exact same could be said for Livio/Razlo and people with disorders such as DID/OSDD.
There are many different ways you could spin these themes, some of which I don't feel personally qualified to discuss. If anyone who is qualified to talk about Wolfwood or Livio/Razlo or even other characters related to these themes, then god PLEASE add onto this post or make a post and tag me or something. I would love to read it!
Anyway, in conclusion: Vash is a feminine figure constantly taken advantage of and exploited and and he's so incredibly trans/nonbinary-coded that it drives me insane. Thank you
I love mashwood a normal amount. They are so extremely dear to me. I love their dynamics and shit theyâre so silly
Also why does NOBODY talk about Merylwood in general. We need to get on that. Might do a post on vashwood, vashmeryl, and merylwood individually and then talk abt mashwood cuz whoo boy I have ideas for all of them đč
knight/lord ships are like. what if i would die for you. what if i wanted you to live for me. what if i wanted to touch you but could only be satisfied with being near you. what if i could touch you but only through the safety of our gloves. what if i couldnât stop thinking about you right next to me. what if i bloodied my hands for you and never looked back at the wreckage. what then
what if i wasnât allowed to love you. what if i loved you anyway. what if you knew and i knew but we wouldnât dare to take that step. what if we made meaningful eye contact as i knelt at your feet and devoted my whole being to you. what if i whispered your name for only you to hear
I experienced an intense writer's block for about a year before getting into Trigun and this is one of the first things I wrote for vashwood. thought I'd promote it here too <3 it's about three weeks old now but eh [Trimax spoilers btw!]
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
am I insane for being the only one that ships Meryl with a character that 1. she hasn't even met and 2. no one remembers? yes. but rarepairs go so fuckin hard bro
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