#00. THESE VASHES AREN'T THE SAME.

...(the proof is in the gunsmoke).

My usual explanation: "Trigun Stampede is a love-letter remix of Trigun Maximum, while still having its own original story".

Assuming we're now on the same page, here (besides being open to seeing that opinion, also having read Maximum and watched Stampede), you're likely aware of the immediate differences between these two iterations of Vash the Stampede. (Henceforth "MaxVash" and "StampVash", albeit "Vash" will still be used contextually).

In fact, once Trigun Stampede was announced and its version of Vash revealed, I'd argue a good amount of the buzz was how "different" Vash looked. Since then, there's also been clarification (like the big quote up above (which I try to have everyone see before they make me hear them out about why Stampede sucks)) as to why Stampede's cast's character designs are "like that".

Like blocks of marble yet to be carved into masterwork statues—they're purposefully designed to evoke an inexperience about them.

StampVash in particular has quite a jarring set of differences from his Maximum counterpart. His left arm is more "obvious" as a prosthetic, with a strange red cuff wrapped around the elbow, one that matches in form with a grey one on the other wrist.
His loose red coat seems more like an oversized jacket than a bulletproof signature look, and it bears a couple of sewn black patches declaring it to belong to "Project SEEDS". (This is a work uniform, but that's a talk for some other time). His hair is more fluffy than it is spiky, the dark part of it still at a lighter shade of brown as opposed to black, the color of Plant decay.
Not to mention that gun holster, and the huge weapon sat inside of it.

It's this signature weapon that I want to bring the most attention to, given that one of the titular guns is this one. Peacebringer is a revolver chambered in .22 rimfire. It's a matte black chunk of a weapon that moreso resembles a brick than it does a gun. It's double-action and can chamber a whopping 8 rounds, and its break-top paired with an auto-ejector makes reloading easy and fast.
There's a few hints to functionality made by its form. This revolver has quite a heft to it, such that firing its measly .22 shots off appears to result in no recoil at all. Its color and design makes for a more futuristic look. My best guess on making the gun black is to both match his Episode 12 wing the way the gun was corrupted in Episode 3, and so that it blends against his pants when holstered (typically, Vash's unzipped coat covers over his holster, even as big as the weapon is). Perhaps most interestingly, besides searching it up outside of the show, only curious viewers even know it is named to begin with; its name is never mentioned even once for all 12 episodes.

Peacebringer is never directly fired at any person who is not Millions Knives.
Vash aims with it right at EG's throat, Livio's head, but it is never loaded at the time. He doesn't walk around with any rounds chambered, since Vash is most often using Peacebringer as a bludgeon. This pacifist's style of fighting is commonly referred to as "gun fu", and the aforementioned heft of the gun serves itself well in delivering opponents unto an unexpected naptime.

Vash's town-saving miracle shot in Episode 1, pulled off with a single mere .22, is difficult to believe even as it happens in front of everyone's eyes. .22s are more likely to bounce off of boulders than to split one perfectly to neutralize an array of rockets. Still, the pacifist tries to laugh it off, directing any explanation of his obviously supernatural marksman prowess on sheer dumb luck. The town's happy enough that everyone made it out alive, but the Bernadelli reporters remain suspicious.

As more episodes come in, and Vash continues to use his skills as a gunman, it becomes more and more difficult to believe Vash is anything but human (up to the reveal in Episode 7, of course). From there, it becomes retroactively possible to explain these unlikely shots: he has enough control over his powers as a Plant to empower his gun and its ammunition.
Since StampVash tends to only fire his gun when he deems that it's necessary, he also tends to beef up the shots. Besides the Episode 1 boulder-shattering "miracle", the brass of his shots fired at Knives in Episode 3 appear to be charred black when ejected, although this one is only apparent for a few frames (of this, there's an even closer shot with new Plant marking detail in the finale). One of the most blatant issues of his Plant powers: shooting the Plant Room's door open at the end of Episode 7. No human-made .22 is going to perforate through layers of steel and metal the way that it does—and, notably, the gun reels back in recoil. The moment that follows echoes "recoil" in the word's more figurative sense, illustrating the hesitance Vash has in using his Plant powers in a more destructive manner—to drain the Dependent Plant beyond the door.

By the finale of Episode 12, besides more clearly creating Plant-patterned bullets of his own, Vash (now forcibly made more into his nature as a Plant) plugs in an extradimensional cube of energy to Peacebringer's empty chambers (Why there, where bullets are typically loaded in? Perhaps he intuited that the energy could only stabilize by taking the form of a weapon, if he wanted to fire it toward the stars). The resulting product of mass destruction comes at the sacrifice of not only both of his arms, but also the gun he's fought with all throughout the show (omg! hey, it's the Trigun!!).
This successful fusion comes from a purposeful decision (as opposed to his Maximum counterpart's overwhelming denial of agency in either his own J[u]neora Rock/Ju[ly] catastrophes). Just moments before, Vash had taken great care into protecting this volatile cube, fighting to maintain ownership of it and to keep it from harm. He's willing to use up as much of his body as it takes to protect this thing of great potential.

Aside aside, looks deceive. Even without going into its origins and modifications over the course of over a century, Peacebringer's shape is unmistakably that of a gun. Yet it is primarily used as a blunt force weapon, with its only exceptions being to influence the environment in a favorable manner, or when facing off against the strongest being on the planet yet.
In Trigun Stampede, weapons reflect much of their wielder's identity; they are, at least for this season, nearly a step beyond representative. Vash's tendencies to rely on deception in order to bring peace upon the world is reflected in the weapon he has holstered at the hip. When he is corrupted, so is Peacebringer; through thick and thin, wherever it is, it's right beside him (up until it becomes a part of him). It's an extension of himself. And as such, it stands in the most contrast to his predecessor's signature weapon.

Trigun Maximum Vash's weapon is left unnamed. Unlike its black matte successor, this weapon is very clearly based off of a pre-existing shiny-silver gun, arguably the most famous revolver of all time: the Peacemaker (also as famously remembered as the "Colt 45" or "Single Action Army (SAA)", alongside a wealth of other nicknames). It's even chambered in .45 Long Colt, too, with a more regular capacity of six shots. Its color and design makes for a more "classic" look, although that is an understatement. The gun it resembles might as well be the defining icon of the Wild West.

...Of course, MaxVash is a bit of a spoiled brat himself, so his version of this gun is also break top with an auto-ejector, completely forgoing the tricky-yet-iconic reload mechanism built into the Peacemaker. Like the Peacebringer, MaxVash's gun is also double action. In this way, he's exempt from having to carry the gun cowboy-style (loaded with 5, the hammer resting over an empty chamber, since cowboys famously love to walk around without a hole in their thigh). In light of that, it's almost always loaded.

Through the volumes of Trigun Maximum, I've inferred a visibly changing narrative attitude regarding the use of violence, specifically that owed to guns and their lethality. It's no secret to any reader that early MaxVash had fired these .45s straight into people, under the pretense that he's sooo practiced, he's surgically precise enough to damage "non-lethal" areas of the human body.
Condensing the journey of which you've already read, this "it's okay to shoot people if I know where's safest" attitude is held for quite a while. Then Meryl and Wolfwood's independent (yet frustratingly never shared) reflections upon shooting another person and being shot respectively make their later appearances.
And ultimately, of course, the sentiment Vash comes into thinking just as he breaks his pacifistic creed entirely by murdering Legato Bluesummers: "shoot someone with a gun, they die".
A couple decades later, it turns out that Nightow himself was the one to come up with the driving idea of StampVash's choice of ammunition: that he should fire .22s for the "most [accurate, and] least lethal" results.

With these two signature weapons and pacifist "fighting styles" established, there are further similarities and differences that are crucial in understanding the respective Vash.
A little gun history is involved, too.

Both of them fire from the 6 o'clock position, despite the hammers both remaining up at a more expected 12. Besides the hammer placement, this configuration isn't pure fantasy; it's a feature shown in other revolvers like the Chiappa Rhino (yeah, the one in Signalis) and the Mateba Autorevolver (to note, this gun started production the same year[!] Trigun Maximum began publication).
Both of these real-life guns were designed by the same man, Emilio[!] Ghisoni, although between the two the Rhino's design (made in the year of his death) was released and manufactured posthumously.

The idea behind firing from the 6 o'clock position is such that firing the gun would push back into the hand, dampening recoil and thus allowing for faster shots. No other real-life designer's tried to emulate this feature, presumably because revolvers themselves are intensively intricate already.
These revolvers firing from the 6 o'clock position makes for a different (and thus more unique and memorable) look, while also making for more interesting composition for frames or panels or figurines. It's also likely why the hammers for both revolvers remain up high, despite the actual chamber fired being much lower. The "rule of cool" prevails.
Both revolvers being break top with an auto ejector implies to me that either Stampede wants to reload their weapons as quickly and efficiently as possible. Meanwhile, double action relays a different message: a heavier-to-pull trigger means that much more decision-making when firing. Certainly, both Vashes have ample super-strength to override that obstacle entirely, but by that same token they have enough control over it not to squeeze their firearms into scrap metal, too.

MaxVash's unnamed gun is manufactured by Colt, so when fired, his revolver's cylinder will rotate clockwise. Peacebringer is more of an indistinct make, and heavily modified at that. But despite the similarity in name (aha!) it resembles little of a Peacemaker, and its cylinder rotates counter-clockwise.

One of Colt's prominent rivals was Smith & Wesson, a student-mentor duo who kept careful eyes on the patent that Colt held on revolvers. The moment that patent expired, Smith & Wesson seized the opportunity by releasing their Model 1 revolver, alongside the invention of .22 rounds (which it uses).

Given that there's just one piece of official art in which both Vashes appear together, there's no existing or actual relationship between the two to apply this real life lens. The most I'm choosing to extrapolate from that right now is that there were efforts put into making Stampede Vash distinct from his Maximum counterpart.

There's much to be said further on both Vashes' struggles of identity, and it's likely I will get into that some time further out from here, but such goes beyond the scope of this first entry.

The next entry will be covering my most recent visual art piece. It's pixel art of Stampede finale Vash, based off of the concept art shown at the recent Trigun Exhibition and a panel from the late volumes of Trigun Maximum. Beyond showing close-ups of the drawing itself, I plan on showing WIP shots alongside commentary of the process in making it, details of the piece and the decision-making behind it, etc.

To the next.