Ungh, stupid typos, forgot a \ to evaluate at runtime. Oops.

zsh/.zshrc

@@ -133,10 +133,10 @@ precmd()
     vcs_info
 }
 
-local branch=" %{$fg[green]%}%b%c%u%{$fg[green]%}%{$reset_color%}"
+local branch="%{$fg[green]%}%b%c%u%{$fg[green]%}%{$reset_color%}"
 zstyle ':vcs_info:*' formats "$branch"
 zstyle ':vcs_info:*' actionformats "$branch (%a)"
 zstyle ':vcs_info:*' stagedstr "%{$fg[yellow]%}*"
 zstyle ':vcs_info:*' unstagedstr "%{$fg[red]%}*"
 PROMPT="$userat:$pwd$userchar "
-RPROMPT="${vcs_info_msg_0_}"
+RPROMPT="\${vcs_info_msg_0_}"