Trigun Stampede 02

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Meryl questions Vash at the Jeneora Rock saloon. Roberto finds the notion of Vash having an evil twin named Millions Knives to be somewhat convenient. The town, lead by pregnant tavern owner, Rosa, decide to turn on Vash to get the reward so they can buy a replacement plant. Vash uses incredible acrobatics to flee, assisted by Meryl and Roberto. Meryl is annoyed that Vash won’t use his gun. He claims he won’t due to the price of bullets.

Just as they make it to the town gate, Rosa and some other women capture the trio. Unbeknownst to them, the Nebraskas, a notorious, murdering father and son pair, are driving a hijacked vehicle to the town. Vash saves Rosa and her son from dying at the literal hand of Gofsef, a giant, cyborg with detachable, rocket-punch hands.

Vash flees on a bird-steed, drawing the Nebraskas away from town. Meryl and Roberto follow in their vehicle. Vash manages to escape. However, the Nebraskas return their attention to the town. Vash hears radio reports of the attack and returns. The short, elderly Father Nebraska has Gofsef steal the good plant from the town. Rosa tries to stop them, and nearly dies for it, except Vash saves her.

Vash plays them to a stalemate, so Father Nebraska reminds him that the town isn’t worthy of saving after what they did to him. Vash wants to save everyone, so when the structure Gofsef collapses, Vash saves him and the plant, with the town’s help. Rosa gives away free drinks. Vash tries to quietly leave, only to be caught by Roberto. As they talk, Gofsef comes under attack by lost technology, small cube droids, apparently killing him.

Thoughts/Review

While I’m still not over Milly’s ejection from this series, I did like Trigun Stampede 02 a lot better than the first episode. And yet when compared to the OG episode 5, the new series has pluses and minuses.

The Nebraskas!

I miss funny Vash. In Trigun Stampede 02, Vash continues to not be funny, even though Orange does what they think are funny things. However, the Nebraskas, primarily Father Nebraska, did provide some chuckles. A lot of this was Father Nebraska worrying about his son, Gofsef, turning stupid because of head injuries. The absurdity of that made it funny.

There are major changes made to the Nebraskas in this new version. For a start, Father Nebraska goes from a short, old bald man with mad scientist tufts of grey hair on the side, to a short, old man with goggles and grey dreadlocks. Why? Don’t know. Further, Gofsef shrinks from his 3-story height (~34 feet) to about 8 feet. From a mutation perspective, the smaller height makes more sense.

Story-wise, in the OG episode, the Nebraskas break out of jail simply because the leader of the town asked for their help to nab Vash so they can repair their (power/supply) plants. The new story is just a normal jailbreak, followed by a, “Oh! Let’s steal the town’s remaining plant.”

As to characters, Father Nebraska is somewhat similar in both episodes. However, I do like his concern for his son in the new version. Sure, there are a lot of laughs from it, but he genuinely cared for his son. And in the end, the town saved his son with Vash’s help. Unfortunately, it looks like Gofsef may be dead, based on the end of the episode.

Vash the Beta Male

As I stated, I do like Trigun Stampede 02 more than the first episode. But when watching this episode and then watching the OG Trigun 05, I suddenly realized the biggest issue I had with the new Vash. He’s a bloody beta male! In the OG episode, Vash is a pacifist who solves things through non-lethal means. But he remains an alpha male throughout. What do I mean?

For a start, when Gofsef attacks Vash in the OG episode, Vash uses a magic marker to write an insult on Gofsef’s rocket punch hand. Then from the rubble, he rescues all of the women knocked out by the attack. Vash does this with an “Up yours!” attitude. He won’t be dictated to by the Nebraskas. He’s going to save the women, and then he’ll deal with the Nebraskas when he’s good and ready. Alpha male!

Further, in the OG episode, Vash squares off against the Nebraskas. He easily pulls his revolver and fires five shots to cause Gofsef’s rocket punch to miss the women. Then, he uses his final bullet to put Gofsef’s rocket arm out of commission. And finally, he uses a kid’s plunger bullet gun to show Father Nebraska what would happen if Vash used lethal force. Alpha male.

Compare that to the new version of Vash. He whines a lot. And then he whines some more. He’s never in control of himself or the situation. He only reluctantly pulls his pea shooter (going from a .45 to a .22 in the new) to shoot down Father Nebraska’s bullet. But even then, Vash whinges on about wanting to save everyone. It is fine to want to save everyone, but could you be less beta about it?

Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves

One of the annoying trends out of Hollywood these days are movies and shows where the men are pathetic, beta males who are so stupid, they can be outwitted by a squashed apricot. As such we need the stunningly brave, strong, powerful, quick witted, awesomely awesome beyond awesomeness known as “woman” (as in, “born with a vagina”) to save the day. And sadly, I saw some of that in Trigun Stampede 02.

Initially, I had no problems with the pregnant Rosa character. Yeah, in episode 1 I noted the snarky, negative comment about her baby’s daddy, but I let that ride. However, in this second episode, it is she and two other women who capture Vash. She looks about eight months pregnant. What the heck is she doing running around with a gun for and not making sure her son is safe from the mayhem going on?

Not only that, on two occasions, she’s tossed around like a rag doll. Again, this calls into question what the heck she’s doing running around with a submachine gun. Does she not care about the life of her unborn child in her womb?

To be fair, in the OG episode, it is a barmaid who gets the drop on Vash. But I respected her because despite her obvious fear, she did what she felt she had to do. She knows Vash could easily kill them all. But in this new series, Vash is so beta, and the women come off as so stunning and brave, it is annoying. But at least they didn’t have Rosa defeat Gofsef.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

I need to get things wrapped up, so let me end my review of Trigun Stampede 02 with some final thoughts.

• Character movements are still a little off at times as the CG sometimes enters uncanny valley.
• Is the person at the beginning of the episode, cleaning his weapon, supposed to be Vash or Knives?
• What the heck were those small, cube droids? Why did they attack and apparently destroy Gofsef?
• I miss Milly!

In the end, I did like Trigun Stampede 02 much more than the first episode. On the other hand, making Vash a whiney, beta male is annoying, more so when you see how awesome he was in the OG anime. Nevertheless, I will continue to watch.