Trigun Bookclub: pancake-breakfast: Trigun Maximum Volume 3: Chapter 6-7

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Original Tumblr Post: Chapter 6-7

LET’S GET VOLUME 3 DONE LET’S GOOOOOO….

Stream-of-consciousness thoughts for TriMax Vol. 3, Chapters 6-7 below.

Table of Contents

Chapter 6: Families

Awww, Vashie…. Take care of him, Brad!
Well, if that’s not an ominous title page. Goshdarnit, Knives, can you even see out of the right side of that helmet? How can you get comfortable with the spike in the back constantly banging into that high-backed death chair? I have questions, sir!

I do like how the belts on his lower arm actually resemble the belts on Vash’s.
Eyyy, it’s the Gung-Ho Guns in their Palace of Terror! (I don’t know what the place is called, but I assume it has an over-the-top name. It needs an over-the-top name.)
Is… he trying to create an angel arm?? Put that away, Knives. You don’t know how to use it.
Oh, maybe… he was trying to locate Vash?
This looks like a flashback, but I’m not sure what it’s flash-backing to. Oh! Vash’s hair is full blond! Definitely a flashback.
Uh. Is his arm not a prosthetic???
I love how completely lost and confused he looks here.

OMG HIS FACE!!! Babygirl is SO WORRIED about Wolfwood! (Also, I know we all love spiky-haired Vash, but goshdarn, I just melt for his hair when it’s all messy like this. It makes him look even softer than he already is.)

And then again when he sees the girls! Gods, he looks like he doesn’t believe what he’s seeing… which, to be fair, he could be forgiven for given all he’s been through recently.

Aww, Meryl’s happy to see him doing well enough to accept glomping hugs.
He is SO RELIEVED. <3
Whooooo is calling Vash a son of a bitch when he just woke up?? Slaps for them. Slaps to the face.
Ugh, why’d they have to remind him of all the deaths already? Just let babygirl rest for a bit. Even Plants need time to recover.
Good on them to shut down his self-deprecation. <3
Eyyy! It’s Luida! Of course she’s looking out for our babygirl. <3 <3 <3
Heh. Ninelives is now Twolives.
Oh, she straight-up ignored his question about Doc.
Vash knows. Vash knows she dodged the question. But he also knows she’s trying to give his heart the rest it needs, and he’s going to take it. He knows he needs it, too.
LOL, Vash, maybe don’t scream at your buddy, the (former?) Gung-Ho Gun with the big-ass murder cross and a huge chip on his shoulder, as soon as he starts waking up in a strange place where he doesn’t have his bearings yet. I swear, Wolfwood’s like a startled cat here.

Dude. Wolfy. You should be happier to see your boyfriend. We’ll have none of this “well, shit” talk.
Heh. Wolfwood’s just grumpy ’cause he can’t figure Vash out.
Something something what I said last time about Vash wishing maybe Wolfwood was around to pull the trigger where he couldn’t.
“Feh!” is Wolfwood’s way of saying, “I accept your apology, you big dummy.”
“You mean it didn’t tug at your heartstrings?” VASH. ARE YOU FLIRTING.
Wolfwood clearly doesn’t appreciate self-deprecating as a form of flirting. Good for him. We don’t build ourselves up by letting others tear themselves down.
(I know I’m being a bit ridiculous with these last two points. Vash likes to encourage people and make them feel good about themselves. But still, it’s a sensitive and very kind thing for Vash to say, all things considered, and good on Wolfwood for calling him out for how he’s going about it.)
“He really just says whatever stupid shit that comes to his mind.” That makes two of you.
Actually, the idea that Vash is just spouting off words without thinking them through is a gross misreading of the situation by Wolfwood (assuming he actually believes that). Vash’s surprise and frustration that his words didn’t appear to have the intended impact on Wolfwood mean Vash put a decent measure of thought into them before saying them. Vash spoke with intention, not rashness. Very little Vash does is actually rash, even when it appears otherwise, and in this particular situation, he’s basically told Wolfwood he put thought into his words. I’d guess Wolfwood’s misunderstanding has a lot more to do with his own conflicted feelings than anything else.
LOL, Vash’s grumpy, pouty face.
I liked how Stampede switched this reaction to a similar photo to Meryl.
Gods, girl needs to find a guy closer to her age and move on.
Ok, question: why did they even bother to show us Knives and the Gung-Ho Guns at the beginning of the chapter???

Chapter 7: His Life As A…

Are… these guys talking about Twolives?
Ah, yes they are. Looks like they’re dead now.
Casual Vash! His proportions on this title page are killing me, though. Limbs too long. I know babygirl is lanky, but seriously.
Ugh, it’s one of them coins. ‘Cause if there’s one person Vash always enjoys thinking about, it’s freaking Legato.
HE STILL HAS HIS HAIR DOWN A:JGL:KJA:SDF:HAFK:JH DOMESTIC VASH!!!

LOL, Wolfwood carrying around his IV like it’s the Punisher. Emotional support IV, indeed.
You know, you really shouldn’t smoke when you’re in recovery. It slows healing times. Unless you got some of them fancy-pants Stampede blue vials on you, Mr. Wolfwood?
UGH HIS FACE. Wolfwood looks just… dead inside. He hates his life. This is the look of a man full of regret.

So, I’m guessing that while Wolfwood knows Vash is Knives’ brother, and knows that those two are somehow related enough to Plants for Knives to have been reborn out of one, he doesn’t quite know whether Plants maybe have weird regenerative abilities that Knives took advantage of or whether there’s something unique tying Vash/Knives to the Plants… or, at least, what the nature of that tie is.
Ohhhhh, that’s what the flashback in the last chapter was to.
Teenage Vash!
Aww, Vash looks so at ease telling the girls about the cryosleep chambers.

Heh, babygirl has a long history with oversized coats, it seems.
Meryl, pondering over all the aspects of Vash she’s seen.
Gods, Wolfwood. He seems so concerned over the idea that Vash might die in all this. I’m going to gnaw my own limb off watching this man fight himself.
Luida gets it.
Oh, shoot. Twolives escaped!
What kind of a name is Magsgarinch, anyway?
Ominous ka-n. Kan kan kan. Kakakakakakakakaka
Ok, I know babygirl is fast, but how the heck did he doff his coat so quickly??
Gotta respect that these two weirdos put the guy who still has both his eyes on the guns. Even though the guns are literally bigger than his head and I don’t know hooooooow their little baby hands have the breadth to grip them.
Yeah, tossing aside his bullet-proof coat does seem unwise.
Left hand.

YOU AREN’T NINELIVES ANYMORE!!! YOU ARE TWOLIVES!!!
LOL, Wolfwood making an entrance.
Did… Vash wreck his arm again?
HE WRECKED HIS ARM AGAIN!!!
Wolfwood’s mad at him for wrecking his arm. And putting himself in danger. And being a confusing, confusing person for Wolfwood to deal with because he makes Wolfwood face himself more than he wants to.
Vash knowing everyone’s name. Remembering them all. I just keep thinking about the opening to Stampede where he’s standing there in the chamber greeting each and every one of them.
LOL, Wolfwood and Luida tag-teaming calling Vash an idiot. It’s definitely a term of endearment.
Vash the Stampede, fueled by his own infinite babygirl energy.
Ahhhhahahahahahahaha, Wolfwood’s got it bad. He says “a true gunman,” but he’s hardly shown respect for that profession. Just… just admit it to yourself, buddy. You’re head over heels for the monstrous conundrum before you.

Vash the Stampede. Babygirl, are you clueless, or just that awkward? Boooooooth???

Author Bonus Chapter (Untitled)

~~(I didn’t forget this, post this post, and then have to go back and edit it. I promise.)~~
Who the heck is John Van Fleet? Wait, are they announcing someone?
“Jingle jingle, let’s go!!!” I kinda want to use this in daily life somehow….
Oh. Oh, no. He went to a convention in the U.S. in… *checks date on volume* ’04-ish. I hope hope hope it was a comic con and not Anime Expo. AX back then was a thing.
Oh, good. It’s a comic con. I wonder if it was San Diego or… New York… or…??? I was actually at SDCC in ’04. WAIT NO, I went in ’05. Missed him by a year. It was my very first con… and the last time you could get tickets at the door, IIRC.
Yeah, that looks about right. It’s… it’s a lot. SDCC is a lot. Even in ’05 it was a lot.
Wait wait wait. He’s a fan of Mike Mignola?? The creator of HELLBOY?!?!? Huh, in retrospect, that makes a lot of sense. Something something similar themes despite very different presentation….
I love how he just butchers language. Because he can.
To be fair, you don’t have to be a comic artist to be this awkward the first time you meet people whose work you’re a fan of. I want to think his “death” here is him trying to add “desu” to English because he wants to come off as very, very polite to these people he admires, but… like… English doesn’t work that way.

LOL, him dying over someone he admires having bought his book. In Japan. Presumably in Japanese. I’m glad he had this experience.
Oh, The Matrix…. I remember those days…. Gods, I feel old now. Thanks.

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