#what is it with cult leader bad guys with mind-flaying tentacles lately???

[freedfromthegalactichivemind]

An Imaginary Death-Battle.

Listen, I really don’t know how to set this up, because I don’t know if there’s a lot of crossover fandom between these two things, but after watching the last episodes of the first season of Trigun Stampede, I really want to set up some kind of fictional fandom-fight (a poll?  A bizarre fanfiction?) between Millions Knives and Horde Prime.   I mentioned them having similarities before, based on the Classic Trigun anime (from 1998) and the Trigun Maximum manga, and how there are even more similarities in Stampede (or “Tristamp” as the fandom seems to be nicknaming it).  When I was watching the last episodes of the first season, there is this sequence where (spoilers! spoilers! spoilers!) Knives takes his chain-knife tentacles and forces them into Vash’s spine in order to sequence him up with a dimensional Gate and to mind-rape him, manipulate his memories and generally turn him into a husk so he can “get his brother back.”   Trigun Stampede is a mature-rated anime, mostly for the copious amounts of blood, so the uncomfortable overtones are not even as subtle as Y-7 cartoon, She-Ra.  In any case, I said, out loud, while watching this, “He’s pulling a Horde Prime!”  The scene seriously reminded me of when, in Spop, Horde Prime reformatted Hordak.   There are differences between the characters, of course.  They have some wildly different motivations.  Horde Prime wants to take over the universe and make it all himself.  He exploits his constructed Little Brothers to this end.  Knives wants to wipe out Humanity in order to protect his fellow-construct Sisters and especially his own Little Brother (out of a twisted form of love, genuine attachment).  But... there are similarities.  They’re both cult-leaders / self-styled gods (Horde Prime to be worshipped, Knives just using the worship as a means to an end). They have a white / light theme.  There are angelic overtones (the “exalted brothers” who “civilize” or bring judgment upon the worlds), with the Plants (Knives’ and Vashs’ species) it’s fairly explicit. They’ll both show a lot of skin and tits out at times (in the manga version, Nightow draws some amazing man-tits), and, in the new series, mind-rape, some uncomfortable overtones (or more) with their “Brethern,” and tentacles with sharp things (needles for Prime, knives for Knives).   They could have some sort of epic wannabe space-god bad guy fight.