I Like Trains

Completely forgot about this.

I’d like to think I actually improved in both the writing and art department from when I first made these pages.

To start off the re-launch of my long text post-centric blog, I will be re-posting a sort of “masterpost” with as many instances of the foreshadowing of the Great Spirit Robot reveal of 2008 that I could find.

While before I left out certain things that I thought everyone knew of already (such as the impenetrable ‘rock’ layer in MNOG), I’ve edited this to include those instances.

Mask of Light Styled Matoro

When I was younger I was very right-wing. I mean…very right-wing. I won’t go into detail, because I’m very deeply ashamed of it, but whatever you’re imagining, it’s probably at least that bad. I’ve taken out a lot of pain on others; I’ve acted in ignorance and waved hate like a flag; I’ve said and did things that hurt a lot of people.

There are artefacts of my past selves online – some of which I’ve locked down and keep around to remind me of my past sins, some of which I’ve scrubbed out, some of which are out of my grasp. If I were ever to become famous, people could find shit on me that would turn your stomach.

But that’s not me anymore. I’ve learned so much in the last ten years. I’ve become more open to seeing things through others’ eyes, and reforged my anger to turn on those who harm others rather than on those who simply want to exist. I’ve learned patience and compassion. I’ve learned how to recognise my privileges and listen to others’ perspectives. I’ve learned to stand up for others, how to hear, how to help, how to correct myself. And I learned some startling shit about myself along the way – with all due irony, some of the things I used to lash out at others for are intrinsic parts of myself.

You wouldn’t know what I am now from what I was then. You wouldn’t know what I was then from what I am now.

It distresses me deeply to think of someone dredging up my dark, awful past and treating me as though that furiously hateful person is still me. It distresses me to see others dredging up the past for anyone who has made efforts to become a better person, out of some sick obsession with proving they’re “problematic.”

Done with exams and Im finally home yayyy

Doodle on plane, CB and Electra

How do all those poppas and mommas get their babies? I have a few ideas – and, no, none of them involve trains actually menstruating and getting pregnant like humans.

I actually had a crazy theory once that Pearl, Electra, and the components might have been fairly new to Control's trainset? Maybe they weren't from the same trainset, but maybe they were all gifts bought around the same time?

Greaseball and Dinah could've possibly been a set

Buffy and Ashley were part of an expansion pack.

Caboose was an unlettered caboose with a bunch of railroad logo stickers and Control just kind of went nuts with putting the different stickers all over. Then the backstory of being a wanted criminal just gelled together from there

The Rockies were a pack of three-four boxcars, while Dustin and Flat-top were a separate expansion pack

Poppa, Belle, and possibly Rusty were hand-me-downs

Some of the nationals may have had trainsets of their own, explaining some of the "doubles" from the Japan and Australia tours e.g. Vladimir, CoCo, Yoshimoto, etc.

Greaseball's gang members might be bought second hand/lack motors, so they don't race

My fellow rail fans and model train enthusiasts, below are two photos from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical about trains (where the actors are on roller skates). This character is the red caboose, and you can see that he has the decals for Penn Central, Great Northern Railway, Baltimore & Ohio, Chessie System, and Pennsylvania Railroad (and he has the Northern Pacific on his hat).

My question to the railroad enthusiasts on tumblr is do you recognize the two black logos? The black diamond on the first and the black square on the second?

And the black rectangle in the second picture appears to be the logo READING “The New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Co.” It was a little difficult to find an exact matching logo, but here’s a uniform patch from the railroad to compare it to:

What kind of diesel engine is Greaseball?

AHHA. AHAHAHAHAHA. HAHA. GUESS WHAT FELLAS BEEP BEEP BEEP

WE HAVE THE FUCKING BWAY PRESS REEL NOW.

Standardized Showcase: Toa Mahri

The complete team re-stylized with my standardized revamp design.