Vash the Stampede
Vash the Stampede is the main protagonist of the anime and manga series of Trigun.
| Character | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Vash the Stampede |
| Occupation: | |
| Relationships: | Millions Knives (twin brother), Nicholas D. Wolfwood (friend) |
| Fandom: | Trigun, Trigun Stampede |
| Other: | Voiced by Miyata Koji (anime 1998) and Kurosawa Tomoyo (anime 2023) |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Canon Overview
Vash the Stampede is the outlaw name given to the main protagonist of the series, Vash. He is also sometimes known as the "Humanoid Typhoon". Despite his fearsome reputation as a bringer of destruction and the $$6 million bounty on his head, Vash is in fact a pacifist who wanders the deserts of Noman's Land attempting to resolve disputes between various factions without shedding any blood. He is a man haunted by his past, constantly trying to outrun the shadow cast by his twin brother, who is as violent as Vash is peaceful.
Fans Reactions
Trans Vash the Stampede
The Trigun Stampede fandom has attracted a lot of transgender and non-binary fans who identify strongly with the character of Vash. One of the most popular headcanons within the Trigun Stampede fandom is that Vash himself is trans. This headcanon is arguably supported by canon material, as Vash and his twin brother Nai (also known as Millions Knives) are not human, but rather rare humanoid forms of the living generators known as “plants” which are essential for sustaining human life on the hostile planet where the story takes place. Every other plant shown throughout the series appears to be female; Vash and Knives are the only two exceptions to this. This has lead many fans to suggest that the twins were born female, like every other plant seemingly is, but later chose to transition and present as male.
As of November 2023, there are 652 works of fanfiction in the Trigun Stampede fandom on Archive of Our Own which are tagged as Trans Vash the Stampede (out of a total of 5,543). Some examples include:
- i'm here in search of your glory (there's been a million before me) by sascake
- It's Open Season on Blue Moons by GGumdrops
Additionally, many fan artists depict Vash with top surgery scars (alongside all the many other scars he is shown to have on his torso in the canon material). Some examples include:
- Trans masc Vash illustration by prettydeer-etsy
- kiss it better? by pawschamp
Some fans of the show have even said that Trigun Stampede — and the character of Vash especially — has helped to ease their own gender dysphoria in real life. See for example this tumblr post by user p1inkpaper who is collecting reponses from fans about this topic for a research paper.
Example Fanworks
Zines
- A Song of Brothers - Plantcest charity zine (2023)