Thoughts on Orange and the masculinization of the twins (mainly Knives)???
I was going to hold off on my TriGaze thoughts until the finale—and boy do I have a lot—but seeing Knives’ new design fully broke off any of the final strands of hope I had left.
It made me come to the realization that for some reason, Orange is TERRIFIED of attributing feminine attributes to Knives and Vash. I first noticed something was up when the language surrounding the twin’s relationship with the plants changed from ‘sisters’ to ‘brethren’. It bothered me for some reason that didn’t make itself apparent until now. In retrospect, I should have seen it coming with the hyper-masculinization of Knives. Knives, like Vash, takes on many aspects of their sisters throughout the comic, whether that be sprouting feminine torsos or limbs, or simply displaying their feathers. Stampede/Stargaze has them fulfill much more traditionally masculine silhouettes however, with no interruptions to them that would challenge the status quo.
For example: Max Knives’ regeneration culminates in his violent birth from a plant, leaving him lithe, nude, androgynous, and with long hair. He does not need to be physically imposing post-birth because his very reintroduction inspires that anticipatory fear. Gaze Knives is simply rebuilt through the grafting and pops from the tank as he’s always been. Being brought back with that undercut was unfortunate. Orange keeps screaming at us “look! Look how alien he is!” but refuses to allow him to exist beyond the human binary.
As for Knives’ new design, this is the most egregious omission of features to me. Nothing about how he looks now references any of his history, emotions, goals, or family. In maximum, Knives’ final form displays a large female torso, a terrifying amalgam of soft and violent features. It’s unstable, horrifying, and utterly inhuman as he’s always strived to be. The shakily held together victory of someone whose ideals are ultimately fear based rather than by true conviction. He is the imperfect unity of himself (masculine) and the plants (feminine) in a way that dwarfs either end of the spectrum into something new. Knives now shows absolutely none of his sisters’ traits despite literally having them use the terminology ‘GRAFTED’.
In conclusion, Orange uses the feminine qualities of the plants as nothing more than a shock factor impregnation scene that has, up until now, had no further relevance to the plot. There is no longer any viable commentary on gender beyond the very, very basics, if at all. I almost even feel the lack of feathers was in an attempt to apply a further degree of separation from anything that would ‘soften’ their manly action hero/antag versions of the twins. Though when has Stamp/Gaze ever displayed any amount of nuance in the first place, let’s be honest.
(Disclaimer: I see no problem with people that like the show! By all means, continue to love it and don’t let others’ opinions take that from you)
