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Compare Canons: Manga: Vash the Stampede | Stampede: Vash the Stampede | 1998: Vash the Stampede
Information on the biology and appearance of Vash the Stampede in Trigun Stampede (2023).
Basic Physiology | Bounty | Clothing | Drain Gate | Earring | Energy Bullets | Energy Cube | Glasses | Gun and Marksmanship | Hair | Music | Personality | Plant Communication and Healing | Plant Lines | Plant Wing and Flight | Portal Gate | Prosthetic Angel Arm | Prosthetic Arm | Relationships | Roots and Flowers | Scars, Amputation, and Healing | Strength and Agility | Toma Equestrianism
Compare Vash Canons: Manga: Plant Lines | Stampede: Plant Lines | 1998: Plant Lines
Chladni Patterns
The design for plant lines is based on Chladni figure vibrational patterns used for the study of cymatics. Cymatics are the study of modal vibrational phenomena. This is different from the manga and Trigun (1998), which use a craquelure-style for plant lines.
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Initial Appearance
The plant lines on Vash’s skin and eyes glow for the first time when he communes with the SEEDS03 electricity plant shortly after The Big Fall.
Coverage
Vash has plant lines on his eyes, face, and body. The lines cover his entire face except for the center around his nose and mouth. They cover his ears completely and extend down his neck, under his clothing. In the most exposed view of his lines, as a teen, the lines continue over his shoulders and arms, stopping at his biceps. They also extend down his back and sides, covering the skin with dense lines apart from the areas around his his underarm and armpit.
We do not have a view of the rest of his body but the lines likely continue down and taper off before his knees, similar to how his arm lines end before his elbows. The lines likely also cover his scalp, though that is obscured by his hair.
Line Color
Vash’s plant lines glow white when he communes with plants. They can also glow black when he uses his powers to take energy from or harm a plant.
While his lines do appear to be tinted blue or red at times, those colors are the result of the reflected light from the dependent plants he is communing with. We have not (yet) seen Vash’s lines themselves glow blue or red.
Line Brightness
The glow of Vash’s plant lines is faint enough to not illuminate through the shirt he wears as a teen, but bright enough to be visible from at least several yards away. In darkness, the line illumination could be visible through clothing.
External Illumination
The plant lines in his eyes are visible under external illumination. When Luida shines a light into Vash’s eye, the plant lines there are visible. They do not glow in response, but reflect the light.
Some have suggested that Vash wears his large orange shooting glasses in Stampede in order to obscure his plant lines from accidental illumination. This seems likely given his need to hide his nature and the ease of identification by this method.
Unlike his eyes, the lines on his skin do not appear visible without internal illumination, not from the pen light or direct sunlight. It may be the skin lines are not directly at the surface of his skin but under enough dermis to avoid catching the light.
Black Plant Lines
After Vash communes with the plant on the sand steamer, the plant lines on his body and eyes are visible. Initially the plant lines are visible but glow black, and then they change to glow white. The black plant lines may be caused by Vash’s use of his powers to take energy away from the plant.
While Stampede does not explain exactly what Vash does here, in the manga, when Vash communes with the sand steamer plant, he stops both their hearts for four minutes to cut off the plant’s power and stop the steamer. This appears to be a different mechanism for a similar result. Whatever Vash does here, the strain of it causes him to pass out and remain unconscious long enough for him to be taken back to SEEDS03.
Forced Connection
In “To a New World“, Knives penetrates Vash’s back with his knife tentacles. He then makes his “initial connection” with Vash. Vash loses awareness, his eyes remaining open, his expression and body going slack. His plant lines begin to glow white.
Call And Response
When Knives gains full control over Vash, Vash’s clothing and body turn completely black and the lines disappear. When Vash starts to resist Knives’ control and return to himself, his lines glow again. He sings (see Stampede Vash and Music) and the dependent plants around him sing in response, suggesting that his plant lines are active because he is communicating with the dependent plants.
Matter Modification
In “High Noon at July”, Vash combines his gun, his energy cube, and his prosthetic arm to create a prosthetic angel arm. When he uses his powers to recombine the matter of the three together, his plant lines glow. This is the first time we see his plant lines activating without a direct connection to another plant. This is likely because he is pulling the required energy from his gate for his own direct use.
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Compare Canons: Manga: Vash the Stampede | Stampede: Vash the Stampede | 1998: Vash the Stampede