Vector Prime, I simply must know:
Was Midnight Express ever menaced by a rival Rock 'n' Roll Express?
Well, I think describing it as a "rivalry" would be something of an overstatement, but Rapid Run did once describe himself as a "Rock 'n' Roll Express" after Koji introduced him to the music of the Holograms. He took to playing their oeuvre at high volumes whenever he took to the rails, which rather irritated Midnight Express, who preferred human classical music—he had a particular affection for enka, I believe. Rapid Run was eventually convinced that was impolite to play music out loud on public transport, and he instead routed the audio tracks through his helmet's internal communications link.
If you are looking for a rivalry among rail-riders, however, perhaps I should tell you of Hakuki? Using technology purloined from Shibuya Manufacturing's laboratories and a disused WIN350 experimental bullet train, Hakuki was created by Dr. Arkeville as a malevolent mirror of Shouki capable of remotely controlling other rail vehicles—and when the Trainbots challenged him, demanding that he stop his campaign of terror over Japan's railways, it became apparent that his powers extended even to other Transformers! Taking control of the team, he forcibly merged with them, taking Shouki's normal place to form the mighty Shuden.
Shouki was saved from Hakuki's dominion by Yamabuki, whose diagnostic abilities were able to partition and isolate the evil locomotive's control code. Enraged by this affront, Shuden attacked; Shouki was forced to combine with the other prototype Trainbots as Shiden Special Formation Raiden, but the prototype combiner was no match for his more advanced successor. Hakuki, however, had neglected to consider that Shouki had replaced one of the prototype Trainbots, who was now conspicuously absent... and while Shiden distracted Shuden, that sixth member Ginou was able to restrain the evil combiner using his silvanite powers. Shouki called out to his fellow Trainbots, who rebelled against Hakuki's control, causing Shuden to break apart—and with all twelve Trainbots working together, the shadowy shinkansen was easily defeated.
Hakuki has not been seen since, even as new Trainbots have been put into production—I wonder, did Dr. Arkeville put his creation in storage, or was he scrapped for parts for his failure? An unpleasant thought, either way...
