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| Treepull Aitch
197th Post
 
Regular Customer
   
|  "how much for molded plastic?"
, posted Mon 31 Mar 10:29
Speaking which, how much do the Kaiyido figures cost again?
Over here, they retail for $69.95, which I think is a HUUGE mark-up, even granting that the US dollar was (at the time I last saw the trigun figures) dealing at %1.7 to $1 Sing.
Ahh...Trigun...the series I used to intro my girlfriend to anime.
I discovered it in late '99-early '00, with the first DVD. I loved it to death. Bought all the DVDs as they came out bi-monthly.
Even had the beginnings of a webpage for it. Wrote a few bios, designed a pitiful layout and crudely photoshopped a few pictures.
I was a big fan.
I'm quite a fan still. There are yet many things I admire about the character of Vash the Stampede; his compassion and 'never-let-things-get-to-you-attitude'
My friends are going to Japan soon. I'm passing them 300 bucks and an injunction to get, among other things, the Kaiyido toys for me.
Aww, man, writing this post took too damn long.
:looks sadly at half-burnt pieces of bread taken from the oven:
:stares some more:
:shrugs shoulders:
*crunch*
mm-mmm....carbony goodness!
ICQ: 37031364 Treepull Aitch
*send dubloons derring-do and dubious dojinshi to wolfwood@pacific.net.sg*
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| Treepull Aitch
199th Post
Regular Customer
|  "and my work."
, posted Mon 31 Mar 10:33:
*sighs*
:brushes crumbs off from his fingers:
I'm in a maudlin mood tonight, so here's the bio I did for Vash so long ago.
Enjoy.
Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
"I am known as Valentinez Alkalinella Xifax Sicidabohertz Gumbigobilla Blue Stradivari Talentrent Pierre Andrt Charlton-Heymoss Ivanovicci Baldeus George Doitzel Kaiser the Third. Don't hesitate to call."
Vash the Stampede.
A name whispered, never spoken - a name screamed in fear and trepidation, not passed in polite conversation.
Vash the Stampede.
A name known - and loathed - by all. The very rumor of his presence shivers the skin of the most valiant lawman...the very syllables of his name terrifies hardened criminals to the rotted core.
Wanted for the murder of Count Lebnant Vasques and class-G weapon theft, Vash is so notorious that the Bernadelli Insurance Society has lost a small fortune in paying reparations for the damage that he has caused and there is a bounty of 60 billion double dollars on his head, dead or alive.
Rumor speaks of Vash the Stampede as an inhuman animal, living only for blood, and being "the worst kind of womanizer" on the planet and hearsay paints him as a giant of a man, "standing twelve fields tall" accessorized with a "huge weapon and a Mohawk"
".....Doer of the most evil of evil deeds? Yes, I am that man!"
But in reality, who is Vash the Stampede? Some call him the Diablo. Others call him the Devil's Helper. Most know him as the Humanoid Typhoon who single-handedly reduced the Third City of July to rubble, turning it into Hell itself. Still while everyone knows of him, few know the man behind the legend. After having spent time with Vash, Meryl observes that he seems to be nothing more than a "droopy-eyed, cocky, upside-down haired, women-chasing lunatic, who's nuts for donuts and gobbles them like a stuffed hog in heat!" - the "only thing 'giant' about him his appetite".
Vash has fantastical knowledge of century-old, so-called 'lost technology', which are remnants -varying in scope from mammoth Plants to minuscule transistors- of the Project Seeds crash-landed on Gunsmoke over 130 years ago. Furthermore, he is able to synchronize with Plants and other machinery.
"....Everything was so dry, even people's hearts. I wondered, how could they go on, living like that."
A major influence on his life was Rem Saverem, an engineer on the aforementioned Project Seeds, who taught him life's values and the value of life. Rem, though long dead, appears to Vash in flashbacks throughout the series, imparting wise advice. Vash often wishes to show Rem the good he has done in the world, though "it is no longer possible". It is a point of interest that Vash is profoundly serious during the flashbacks with Rem - so much so Rem laughs that he'll "turn into an old man very soon" if he keeps on "pondering like that" - a complete contrast to the jovial, lighthearted mannerisms he sports in the present.
His favourite song is an old song - Rem's favourite. It is a celebration of life, yet with a soulful, yearning melody.
Vash's past is slowly revealed through out the series. As Wolfwood notes, Vash is "hurting like crazy on the inside", emptily smiling on the outside, torn as he is by guilt and ignorance, for the ruination and piles of debris that were once July was, in his own words 'the first and last things I ever saw" in this life, execpting memories of his early childhood.
Vash has continual bad luck throughout the series; Death and Poverty seem to like him so much, they bring friends. Townsfolk try to kill him for the bounty on his head. People that he helps backstab him, and Meryl seems to strangle him at every opportunity she gets.
And throughout all this he continues smiling.
"There is no rest for me in my search for peace. I meditate dilligently every morning."
Highly proficient in the most exacting science of gunmanship, Vash travels the desert in search of redemption from his past. To this end he has vowed never to take the life of a human being and preaches a gospel of "love and peace", especially to the children who will one day inherit the world. In the finals of a gun tournament where murder is a viable means of victory, Vash sits at ringside throughout, idly swiping stones through the air, especially in the moments leading up to the pulling of the trigger.
A doctor described that tourney as "amazing", for there was "not even a single fatality", compared to the presumably high body count of the previous years.
"Are there only two paths to a forked road? No. There are infinite paths we should take."
Altough he seems to be solely driven by lust in the beginning episodes - he chases anything wearing a skirt excluding the insurance girls - his character becomes more fleshed out as the series progresses,showing different facets of his personality ; facets contraidactory and confusing.
We see him voyeuring up girl's skirts.
We see him ministering to the injured and courageously foiling an armed heist.
We see him as a cold-hearted hitman par excellence.
And, as the Pandora's box of Vash's legacy opens, answers spill out, but these answers carry with them more questions. So much so, that during the halfway point of the series, we begin to wonder: Which is the true face of Vash?
"That makes it so much easier! Let's get married - right away!"
The clown?
"Your ticket to the future....is always blank."
The saint?
"Now you're also gonna die!"
Or the killer?
End of Spoiler
ICQ: 37031364 Treepull Aitch
*send dubloons derring-do and dubious dojinshi to wolfwood@pacific.net.sg*
[this message was edited by Treepull Aitch on Mon 31 Mar 10:43] |
| Sensenic 471th Post
Gold Customer
    
|  "Re(1):and my work."
, posted Mon 31 Mar 14:08:
Ah Trigun.... one of my most loved animes. It has comedy, it has freakin' good action, it has Vash  ( and Wolfwood, and Legato or Regalt or whatever, and all characters in general who are very human. But I'd stay with Vash) and it has a final message which I'm totally agree with (as I understand it, of course):
Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
Life, in general, sucks. Mankind, in general, sucks. But there are always these little and not so little moments in life that are all worth living. And specially there's always hope and hard work to make a better world for tomorrow. -snif-  Never lose hope.
End of Spoiler
quote:
*sighs*
:brushes crumbs off from his fingers:
I'm in a maudlin mood tonight, so here's the bio I did for Vash so long ago.
Enjoy.
Nice Vash's bio, TA, but I'm not agree with a pair of things:
Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
quote:
To this end he has vowed never to take the life of a human being and preaches a gospel of "love and peace", especially to the children who will one day inherit the world.
He hasn't vowed never to take the life of a human being, he has vowed never to take the life of a living being. He has vowed to never kill the butterfly nor the spider and show that there's always another way to solve problems, as you state with that quote.
quote:
Now you're also gonna die!"
Or the killer?
Other people talks about this kind of Vash's "dark side" too, but I don't agree. Some people even say that that's the real Vash and I DEFINITELY don't agree there. Vash doesn't have a "killer dark side". He just gets angry (VERY angry) at that point because of all the tension he has inside him and the circumstances. That happens to many people, in both the series and real life, and people kills for less than that. But in that scene, even being so angry and full of hatred, he eventually controls himself and doesn't kill that Gun-Ho-Gung whose name I don't remember. And he doesn't "go Berserk" anymore. He only kills (directly) a person (good ol' Legato) after that and only because for the first time in his life he (thinks he) has no other choice. And that experience is about to ruin him completely. Vash's a good guy, he ain't a killer neither in the surface nor in the inside.
End of Spoiler
EDIT: fixed some things to make it more "readable".
Rincewind: Hello! Anyone out there?!
Why should you drink & drive when you can smoke & fly?
-A woman to a boy I crossed with in the street-
[this message was edited by Sensenic on Mon 31 Mar 14:15] |
| Treepull Aitch
208th Post
Frequent Customer
|  "my thoughts on Vash again"
, posted Tue 1 Apr 10:06
quote:
Other people talks about this kind of Vash's "dark side" too, but I don't agree. Some people even say that that's the real Vash and I DEFINITELY don't agree there. Vash doesn't have a "killer dark side". He just gets angry (VERY angry) at that point because of all the tension he has inside him and the circumstances. That happens to many people, in both the series and real life, and people kills for less than that. But in that scene, even being so angry and full of hatred, he eventually controls himself and doesn't kill that Gun-Ho-Gung whose name I don't remember. And he doesn't "go Berserk" anymore. He only kills (directly) a person (good ol' Legato) after that and only because for the first time in his life he (thinks he) has no other choice. And that experience is about to ruin him completely
I still say he has a killer side to him.
Note that he shot Knives in the knee (flashback episode). First. Also, he AIMS the Angel Arm at Knives when at July. And, he's the one that tackles Knives to the ground when they're both kids. That, as Ryu would say, is "evil intent".
And there's the whole deal with Vash's powers being associated with evil - his many nicknames include 'Diablo' and his Angel Arm is black. He is also the arch-enemy of Knives, who is associated with messiahnic imagery of being a superior One sent from the stars, having 12 + 1 disciples working from him and a white Angel Arm.
The incidents with Knives happened waaay back in the past though. One interpretation of Trigun is that its Vash learning how to control his evil urges. He does a damn fine job of it too, except when fighting Monev.
ICQ: 37031364 Treepull Aitch
*send dubloons derring-do and dubious dojinshi to wolfwood@pacific.net.sg*
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| Sensenic 472th Post
Gold Customer
| "Re(1):my thoughts on Vash again" , posted Tue 1 Apr 13:06
quote:
Point taken. I remember the sandworms.
But that brings us to the question of him eating salmon sandwiches/ hot dogs with gusto. Assuming he considers animal life equal to human life, then why isn't he vegetarian?
I conjecture it's due to that: 1) He understands that killing goes on in the world but 2) it has to be killing he a)does not take actively take part in - as you said, "never to take" and/ or b)does not want to know about.
Ouch. Got me there. 
I'm agree with point 1. He understands that people must kill to eat (plants are living beings too, anyway) , I guess, even though he'd like it to be otherwise. Sometimes even he doesn't know how to save the butterfly and the spider.
Oh, and being vegetarian on that planet, I'd say it's a weeee bit difficult .
BTW, I didn't know the planet's name was Gunsmoke. Do they say it on the series or it's told in the DVDs?
quote:
I still say he has a killer side to him.
Note that he shot Knives in the knee (flashback episode). First. Also, he AIMS the Angel Arm at Knives when at July. And, he's the one that tackles Knives to the ground when they're both kids. That, as Ryu would say, is "evil intent".
quote:
And there's the whole deal with Vash's powers being associated with evil - his many nicknames include 'Diablo' and his Angel Arm is black. He is also the arch-enemy of Knives, who is associated with messiahnic imagery of being a superior One sent from the stars, having 12 + 1 disciples working from him and a white Angel Arm.
Ooofff..... never thought about it, and I'd say Vash's both gun and Angel Arm are the white ones... That's a good reasoning too, but I'd say it's a bit....eeuuh... ¿forced?
quote:
The incidents with Knives happened waaay back in the past though. One interpretation of Trigun is that its Vash learning how to control his evil urges. He does a damn fine job of it too, except when fighting Monev.
Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
That's what I mean, but not that radical. I think that the question doesn't simplify to good side/dark side. It's not about schyzophrenia, it's about humanity, psychology.
I think that both Vash and Knives have human (but opposite) personalities, even when they aren't biologically human because they were rised and taught as humans (fast learning and growing humans, but humans after all).
Knives is the dictator kind, saviour of his superior race (Hitler?, more or less), and Vash is the all-around good guy, that loves everything & everybody. I'm simplifying here, of course. But even good guys may get angry, and after all that Vash goes through, it's perfectly normal that he gets to really hate Knives (and Monev) at those points. But he's always able to control himself, since he never gets to kill his brother (nor Monev) and "only" punishes them in the end for what they've done. Perhaps the only point where Vash might have wanted to kill his brother is when he uses his Angel Arm against him at July. But even then I think they both know that the beam wouldn't kill none of them.
Lately, I'd like to say that both brothers love each other, that's why they're always trying to fuck, punish, "teach", whatever... the other, and not to kill him.
End of Spoiler
One thing is clear though: we both like Trigun a lot, don't we?
PS: Found this
PPS: Please TA or someone answer to this, cuz it took me hours, slow me....
Rincewind: Hello! Anyone out there?!
Why should you drink & drive when you can smoke & fly?
-A woman to a boy I crossed with in the street-
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| Treepull Aitch
214th Post
Frequent Customer
| "Again! Again!" , posted Tue 1 Apr 20:03
quote:
Ouch. Got me there.
I'm agree with point 1. He understands that people must kill to eat (plants are living beings too, anyway) , I guess, even though he'd like it to be otherwise. Sometimes even he doesn't know how to save the butterfly and the spider.
Oh, and being vegetarian on that planet, I'd say it's a weeee bit difficult .
BTW, I didn't know the planet's name was Gunsmoke. Do they say it on the series or it's told in the DVDs?
Gunsmoke s given as the planets name in the first two volumes of the manga - which are pretty bad (I hear Trigun Maximum is better) - and on numerous merchandise sources.
quote:
Ooofff..... never thought about it, and I'd say Vash's both gun and Angel Arm are the white ones... That's a good reasoning too, but I'd say it's a bit....eeuuh... ¿forced?
It is forced. Thematic signifigance always is. :)
And I was wrong. Vash's and Knives' AA both are white. Vash's power blast is black though. The devil is in the details, as they say.
quote:
One thing is clear though: we both like Trigun a lot, don't we?
We both like discworld too.
quote:
PPS: Please TA or someone answer to this, cuz it took me hours, slow me....
I share the pain. My original argument vanished when I didn't type in my username in the submit page. I had to retype it. At 3 am in the morning.
Oh, and were you the one that ICQed me for authorization? If so, I need you to message me so that you can autorize me on your end. I dont even have your contact on my list right now. If not, then I'm just being a blabbermouth.
ICQ: 37031364 Treepull Aitch
*send dubloons derring-do and dubious dojinshi to wolfwood@pacific.net.sg*
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| Sensenic 478th Post
Gold Customer
| "Re(1):Again! Again!" , posted Wed 2 Apr 05:58:
quote:
Gunsmoke s given as the planets name in the first two volumes of the manga - which are pretty bad (I hear Trigun Maximum is better) - and on numerous merchandise sources.
Those appeared here ni Spain but quite some time ago, it didn't interest me much back then  As for Trigun Maximum, I'd like to see it... Has it ended already?
quote:
And I was wrong. Vash's and Knives' AA both are white. Vash's power blast is black though. The devil is in the details, as they say.
I'm a detailist, don't scare me!
Vash's beam is black in the last episode because he's learned to do it "negative": it sucks energy (from Knives' beam) instead of firing it.
quote:
One thing is clear though: we both like Trigun a lot, don't we?
We both like discworld too.
True, true...
quote:
PPS: Please TA or someone answer to this, cuz it took me hours, slow me....
I share the pain. My original argument vanished when I didn't type in my username in the submit page. I had to retype it. At 3 am in the morning.
Ouch... -_-U. That really hurts. That's why I'm making the effort of getting used to write the messages on WordPad first, and then copy-paste, to avoid this kind of surprises. That, BTW, always happen when you write a long post, Murphy Laws never get wrong
quote:
Oh, and were you the one that ICQed me for authorization? If so, I need you to message me so that you can autorize me on your end. I dont even have your contact on my list right now. If not, then I'm just being a blabbermouth.
I'm afraid it was not me. Don't have ICQ. I'm sorry.
Rincewind: Hello! Anyone out there?!
Why should you drink & drive when you can smoke & fly?
-A woman to a boy I crossed with in the street-
[this message was edited by Sensenic on Wed 2 Apr 06:01] |
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"my thoughts on Vash." 