FEATURE: 7 TRIGUN STAMPEDE Moments Where Vash Was a Total Dork
This article contains spoilers for TRIGUN STAMPEDE season one
Vash the Stampede is the kind of protagonist with a reputation that makes you go “huh” when you meet him. He’s known for being a destructive badass, and definitely looks the part, but he also forgets the fine art of infiltration by sneezing. This has always been the case with any iteration of Vash and TRIGUN STAMPEDE continues the tradition of the Humanoid Typhoon being a silly little guy who’d trip over his own shoelaces if his boots had laces. Here are seven times when Vash was oh so very Vash.
Mwahahahaha!
After a distressing opening where Rem makes sure Vash and Nai are able to escape before their space station explodes, we cut to reporters Roberto De Niro and Meryl Strife looking to get the scoop on the Humanoid Typhoon of legend. He’s a man with a huge bounty on his head ($$6,000,000) and is, according to the military police, known for destroying Plants and killing many people.
Soon the two reporters spot what they believe to be a corpse. Left tied upside down, it turns out the corpse is not very corpse-like at all. Meet Vash the Stampede, the typhoon in question who, by the looks of it, had a run-in with a nefarious group known as the Bad Lands Gang. After a handshake (that leads to Meryl pulling off his arm) and ominous laughter, it takes about 2.5 seconds to realize that Vash is a total goofball.
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Conversely, this first episode is even more hilarious to go back to after watching the rest of the series, where we later get to see Vash make quick work of the Bad Lands Gang when he’s in a hurry. Yet here he’s just… hanging out in the desert while his body is pecked at by birds.
Truly a mood.
Someone, please get this man a bullet!
The town of Jeneora Rock finds itself in a world of trouble when the military police show up to collect the bounty on Vash. After a duel gone horribly wrong, a cluster gun is fired into the air that puts the entire town at risk. As everyone ducks for cover, Vash decides to draw his gun and be the epic protagonist he was destined to be.
Except.
He forgot to make sure the gun had bullets.
Vash frantically calls for someone to get him one. Fortunately, Rosa comes through, handing Meryl a bullet to get to Vash. With tears in his eyes, Vash proceeds to give chase when the bullet is shot out of his hand by the trigger-happy military police officer who unleashed the cluster gun in the first place. As silly as the entire exchange is, it does lead to a pretty badass save where Vash pulls off one heck of a trick shot.
Did someone call for a wacky chase scene?
While Vash did rescue the people of Jeneora Rock from certain doom, the bounty on his head is much too tempting, especially when their Plant is dying. Suddenly, the entire town turns its guns on Vash, forcing him to make a run for it. This leads to a hilarious chase scene where the camera person definitely put in extra hours of work to keep track of Vash.
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Vash eventually comes face to face with a father and son team out to, you guessed it, collect that bounty, but later the duo decides to take the town’s Plant instead. Despite the townspeople turning their backs on him, Vash decides to defend them, leading to another entertaining sequence of his dodging attacks like some kind of trained dancer. What, doesn’t everyone press X to evade and execute a sweet ballerina spin?
Using bullets? In this economy?
After Roberto and Meryl help Vash evade capture by the citizens of Jeneora Rock, Meryl wonders if he forgot ammo for his gun, hence why he wasn’t trying to fire back against his pursuers. She finds out that’s not the case. Vash did bring plenty of ammo, he just doesn’t like using it.
Why?
Well, according to Vash, bullets are spendy. Why, one bullet can buy two whole slices of pizza! That’s what he says in the Japanese version, but if you watch the English dub the bullet’s worth increases to two dozen doughnuts. Does this mean one bullet can get you a slice of pizza and a dozen doughnuts? What’s the math here? If we’re risking our lives for the food we should figure out the numbers, Vash.
Sir, Wolfwood just threatened your life…
There’s a lot going on in the seventh episode of TRIGUN STAMPEDE. The sand steamer our team of misfits is on has been misdirected by Legato, who is sending it straight for Hopeland, the place where Wolfwood’s old orphanage is. As if that isn’t stressful enough, the ship’s ion cannon is ALSO set to fire at Hopeland. Wolfwood decides that the only way to protect Hopeland is to make the ship self-destruct.
Vash, of course, worries about the people on the ship.
After a brief argument, Wolfwood decides to do things Vash’s way to attempt to save everyone on the ship and Hopeland, but it’s looking pretty unlikely. Wolfwood tells Vash that if this doesn’t work, he’ll make him wish he were dead after the significant beating he administers. Oh, then after that? He’ll kill him.
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And Vash just… smiles.
From a storytelling perspective, we know he’s smiling because it means Wolfwood is starting to warm up to the idea of being able to save everyone and not necessarily having to kill to do it. Even so, seeing such a vicious threat met with a soft, content look is a bit comical, especially when Wolfwood basically stomps his feet to proclaim his status as The Punisher.
It’s okay, Wolfwood, Vash is just a likable guy.
Always have a Kleenex on hand
After Meryl and Roberto are kidnapped by Zazie and taken to Knives’ base in JuLai, Vash and Wolfwood rush out to save their friends and stop Knives, who has been gathering all of the Plants together. It’s imperative for Vash and Wolfwood to sneak in, undetected, but gosh, JuLai sure is a dusty city, you know?
So Vash sneezes and blows their cover.
Ah well, time to run, I guess.
CHOMP!
By the time we reach the final episode of TRIGUN STAMPEDE’s first season things have reached critical levels of seriousness. Knives is about to enact his plan to eradicate humanity in order to create a world where he, Vash, and the rest of the Plants can live in peace. He’s this close to succeeding, but thanks to Meryl’s efforts, her voice reaches Vash and he’s able to awaken from his catatonic state.
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Now sporting a cool new look and strong resolve to stop Knives, the brothers have a godlike battle against one another. The stakes have never been higher, so now’s a good time to pull out all the stops to win the day. Cue Vash taking a second to literally BITE Knives. It’s a quick “blink and you’ll miss it” moment, but Vash does, in fact, embrace his role as pesky little brother by sinking his teeth into Knives’ wrist to stop him from grabbing the cube.
What are some of your favorite Vash moments in TRIGUN STAMPEDE? Let us know in the comments!
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Briana Lawrence is the Senior EN Features Editor here at Crunchyroll. When she’s not writing she’s taking care of her three butthead cats and playing Hades for the 100th time. You can check out her writings and her book series over at her website and give her a shout over on Twitter.
