Me and my mom were talking about how the term 'Dreamcore' has changed, specifically how in her time it was the name of a Shoegaze subgenre that leaned toward the more poetic definition of dreaming, but now in the current time it's the name of an aesthetic that recreates what actual dreams look and feel like. I, being the autistic individual I am, found a connection between that and Starlight Express.
I know I've talked about Electra in relation to the setting of StEx being a dream many times before, but I would like anyone who has read the previous yap sessions to forget those because I think this (very similar) interpretation is better.
Pearl and Electra, at least in their pre18 designs, both work to set the characters as toys and set the scene as a dream. But like old Dreamcore and new Dreamcore, they represent opposite definitions of what "dreaming" is.
Pearl, being the love interest of the story, is representative of media portrayal of "good dreams", daydreaming, and aspiration, or in the connection used earlier, old Dreamcore.
She represents this much more obviously than Electra does with the whole thing with her looking for her "Dream Train" and Rusty trying to win her love. So, right away, her whole deal is wanting (love, to be specific).
Being an observation or first-class car is also important for this. I don't know a huge amount about observation cars, but I know that of course first-class cars are for the wealthiest of passengers, and wealth is a common thing to dream of having.
In terms of (old) costume, the bright and/or soft pink palette and tiara give her a princess vibe, which is fitting for this because it connects back to wealth (Princesses are royalty, and royalty have power and are thus usually very wealthy as well), and princesses, especially the style of princess Pearl matches, can be associated with good dreams through other things they are associated with (Princesses are usually grouped in with things like unicorns, fairies, and rainbows. Media, at least a few times, portrays good dreams with these things in them (take the Minecraft mod Good Night's Sleep for example))
Now on to Electra. Electra is a bit more vague with their connection to dreams than Pearl since they have no direct mentioning of them (they, in fact, have very little direct mentioning of anything, which is important for this theory). However, with some pondering, they could be representative of dreams from a psychological/scientific/realistic standpoint, or in other words, the actual experience of dreaming in sleep (In the Dreamcore comparison again, Electra is the StEx equivalent of new/current Dreamcore).
Electra is, like actual dreams, a mashup of seemingly unrelated topics (railway electrification, computers, supervillains, popstars, and complex sexuality and gender), combined into one entity that appears and acts strangely and intimidatingly.
The way they enter and continuously appear in the story is especially real dream-like. They seem to not be very relevant to the actual plot, but rather interrupt it with their presence (as in you could remove them and the story would be basically the same, probably even more coherent than it is). Despite being unnecessary to the story, they are necessary for the setting, as actual dreams tend to be oddly paced, cut, or in Electra's case, will randomly add or switch to a different scenario. Another key part of this is the fact that despite Electra being as mysterious and weird as they are, no one seems to question who they are or where they came from, similar to how in dreams strange places and happenings will be processed as normal (I've had many experiences where a weird liminal place will just be seen as my school, as if my school just always looks like that).
It should also be pointed out that Electra talks a lot in metaphors and implications rather than clearly stating information, kind of like how dreams may hold symbolism about your life.
Electra's (old) costume doesn't add as much to this theory as Pearl's costume, though it does reinforce everything already stated with how many things are going on in the costume while staying uniform, and how much it makes them stand out.
Not sure how important this is for this theory, but it should also be pointed out that Pearl and Electra are commonly seen together and share the trait of being shiny and new.
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