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@raptorstar
Hey can y'all ask me stuff about my StEx Lore Expansion AU? I wanna keep expanding on the worldbuilding and characters + get some more eyes on it.
Base information is here:
💬 0 🔁 1 ❤️ 8 · Here to post a bit about my StEx Lore Expansion AU! · I wasn't happy with my previous attempt at making a lore expansion AU
hi can i slurp your guts out (positively)
Uhm... no
I would like to keep my body intact, thank you
Automobile history: Woah! That there is Molly Dotter's 1959 Ford Whippersnapper! Too bad it's the last of its model, I would've loved to drive that thing. Ship and train history: THIS BEAUTY HERE WAS ONLY EXPERIMENTAL AND ASSUMED TO NOT LAST LONG, BUT SHE PROVED HER MAKERS WRONG BY SAVING A HUNDRED MEN IN THE PEONY WAR OF 1868, WORKING TIRELESSLY FOR OVER A CENTURY, THUS OUTLIVING THOSE WHO SAID SHE WOULD FAIL, AND ACTING IN A TOTAL OF THREE MOVIES. HER COMPANY TRIED TO HEARTLESSLY SCRAP HER, BUT THIS MUSEUM CONVINCED THEM TO BRING HER HERE SO HER LEGACY CAN LIVE ON. HER NAME IS THE GREAT SUSAN.
OLC era AU where everything is the same except Electra is armed...
Pretty...
%>?<<~|\|?!£¥•¥^?~.\|?!
ᒷ̇/ᓵ⚍ᓭᒷ ᒲᒷ?
I saw someone in a server I'm in draw their f/o with the meowl image and so I followed along and made an entire creature.
I imagine Melectrowl (stole that from a friend) is a tropical species of meowl that produces an electric field (kinda like electric eels), which is less used to stun prey and more used to deter predators, since it has evolved to be omnivorous because of a lack of prey in its habitat. Its very striking appearance is meant to both warn predators and attract mates. Unlike most birds, both male and female Melectrowls are brightly colored.
Is this anything?
How are new engines/coaches/freight cars born in your headcanon? Are they manufactured as baby trains and like assigned parents, or are they adults from the moment they’re conscious?
They're metaphysical beings that come with the engine/carriage, so adults from the moment they're conscious.
Edit: Some do have families, but they aren't biological families (I guess being built by the same manufacturer could could as a biological relative. And there's an original character in this AU who's an EMU and I'm making it clear she's an EMU by giving her a ton of "children" who are just chibi versions of herself.)
Here to post a bit about my StEx Lore Expansion AU!
I wasn't happy with my previous attempt at making a lore expansion AU, so I'm rewriting it in its entirety! I'm going a more directly paranormal route with the train people being the souls/spirits of the full engines and carriages. This allows me to do a bit of digging into train history and do a TON more worldbuilding! All vehicles have humanoid spirits of them in this AU, but of course this only focuses on the trains. This AU especially focuses on the electric locomotives because I love Electra and it'd be neat to focus on a perspective that is barely focused on in the actual musical (Thinking of making some ocs that aren't a part of the canon story and are just witnesses/bystanders of it) I'm also taking heavy inspiration from Cats in terms of the racing and overall giving the trains different factions/tribes/races depending on engine types with their own culture and customs (Though a lot of the cultural things are shared between all trains) If you have any questions about it, please let me know! I would love some ideas for how to expand on it!
Electra theory I made up in the middle of the night
Electra is a minority like Rusty and Poppa/Momma (electric trains are EXTREMELY rare in the US and seem to be disliked(?) here), but they are the thematic polar opposite to the steam engines (past vs. future, traditional values and religion vs. the physical form of conservative fears (probably especially at the time of StEx's first premiere) and are reacting to the system (other engine types, mainly diesels) in the opposite way (Using their wealth and power to start/perform an elaborate and likely violent revolution instead of just proving their kind worthy or whatever the steam engines are doing) Electra is still arrogant af and the scheme is probably all for themself (though there might be some universal benefits to electrifying all the railways in the US) , but the same anger Rusty feels toward the other fuel types is probably still in there somewhere, maybe even more strongly than Rusty since they're a lot more aggressive I should also point out that electric locomotives came before diesel ones, which would mean the conflict between steamers and electrics is way more long-lasting and thus probably way more impactful.
for historical and animist context (yes, you can just ask trains questions. A SEPTA train ghostwrote this post with me. Electric trains especially are very friendly to humans and straightforward, it’s harder to understand combustion trains in general unless you are a at least an amateur mechanic or maintenance volunteer. They are more complicated, anti-human, and don’t respect humans unless their livelihood depends on them.)
electric trains and steam engines just never had serious historical rivalry. Electric motors mopped the floor with them by the ragtime era, especially in commuter service and heavy freight because they are VERY good at starting/stopping vs steam engines, amazing uphill (steam engines are atrocious at this to the point it’s a repeated Thomas plot) and don’t have to drag their own fuel around. The latter two were very appealing to rich coal hauling railroads and mines, not dealing with hauling coal around to refuel dozens of steam engines vs one central power plant saves a lot of hassle (and maintenance makes it even more extreme)
Steam engines in the US are actually very offended by being seen as minorities, because they are demons who hated being alive and oppressors, not victims! Black culture is universally pro-train because rail was an opportunity for freedom since the mid-1800s, because of this they gloss over negative traits of steam engines because they’re all friendly trains to them. In the latter half of the 20th century, electric trains developed VERY similar economic and social politics to Black people because of their presence in cities left to rot or destroyed by “urban renewal” and car culture. They’re widely but covertly Black-coded in the news because of this (exaggerated claims of subway crimes, “welfare queen” adjacent rhetoric about transit funding). You could also draw comparisons to other minorities in the US, but in terms of real life, electric trains are way more Black coded than most think. Just look at Amtrak ads! Also note that transit advocates and enthusiasts are way more diverse than people into steam engines… it’s actually a huge issue that it’s almost entirely old white men and they’re struggling to expand their volunteer pool because they’re viewed as less accepting than they are!
British steam engines are kind of different spiritually and do see themselves with more of that victim mentality due to the engrained culture there. This is a VERY white and specifically British thing with few ties to Black American culture (other than some music). They’re more tied to industrial decline there, and hate Thatcher! There’s similar core issues of refusing to adapt post-WWII but some very deeply engrained cultural stuff with unions there that’s way out of my depth.
Electra works VERY well as a Michael Jackson figure who’s a celebrity who can’t often speak directly and is constantly threatened and slandered by media! Electric trains have VERY similar issues with media to a lot of Black celebrities in general, especially in the 70s-80s! It’s a shame the show and fandom rarely pick up on this, because it’s such a powerful and nuanced concept and a way to write Electra in a train-accurate way without slogging through all that history… you can largely write them as MJ with the serial numbers filed off and say a LOT! Electric trains WERE violently suppressed and destroyed en masse in the US and have suffered slow decay in… a lot of countries the last few decades and it’s very hard for them to reach audiences outside their historic regions, so a celebrity figure would be very powerful for them and irl electric trains LOVE getting photos taken and art made of them! Almost all public-facing trains do, but unloved ones get very desperate (SEPTA loves photos and will show you heritage units if you take pics of random stations and trains and speak positively about them)
Fuel isn’t even a relevant term for electric trains, they’ve always had a strong hydropower presence and could easily be powered by solar or wind vs burning things! They’re defined by power being directly supplied via electricity, from any source! This is a huge gripe I have with Wembley, we can basically eliminate the use of ALL fuels with trains specifically since they’re so easy to electrify. I also get pissed at the batterywashing of Electra but eh… at least they still have pantographs and that’s a genuinely huge deal with media, who gleefully erase those at every turn for nonsensical wireless all-battery situations.
Hi again, alternative response to this because I'm doing a huge rewrite of my Starlight Express lore expansion AU which might involve quite a bit of research: Do you know any good sources for the history of electric trains (Or trains overall, but especially electric ones since I've noticed it's harder to find videos about it and the 4 part yt series on it doesn't have parts 3 and 4 out yet)?
I wanna make my AU at least somewhat historically accurate but I'm not worrying too much about how detailed that accuracy gets since it's a Starlight Express AU
Starlight fans - if you need a distraction - ridiculous looking game is coming! I adore Town to City, you can pet the kitties and build rolling fields of lavender, it's the most cozy chill game when you want to faff with details like putting exactly the right hanging baskets on the farm houses... IDK if this new game will hit that same vibe, I doubt there's as many styles of lanterns, but I'm looking forward to finding out!
TOWN TO CITY DOOHICKEY TRAIN GAME!? I NEED THIS I NEED THIS I NEED THIS I NEED THIS OH MY GOOOOSDKJ CFKZThggubja
About StEx taking place in a dream. Electra to me seems like two things: - The monster in a completely random and irrational nightmare that gives you genuine terror as a child but is then turned into a genuinly hilarious memory once you've matured. - That one thing that ruins a completely plot cohesive dream and makes it into nonsense.
A glittery colorful mystery being with apparently a lot of fame interrupting the main event in almost total darkness to demand attention and warn about how dangerous it is, make everyone circle around it, and then join in on the main plot of the dream but still not do much aside from continuing to interrupt it is such random silly nightmare being activities. Not to mention AC/DC is in 7/8 after a ton of 4/4 songs and the chorus of the older versions get high pitched and/or out of tune.
I would like to expand on this actually because I can go deeper with this: Greaseball and C.B., especially in the earlier productions, are much more real in their evil. Greaseball is a bully and terrible partner, and CB is a manipulative serial killer. But Electra? They do kind of do those things as well, but with a much lighter, "I want to TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!" tone. In terms of fears/nightmares, Greaseball is a nightmare that is already happening in reality, CB is something that isn't happening in reality yet, but it could happen, and Electra is something that could, unless in under very small circumstances, never happen at all and is just ridiculous.
Electra floats in the tours. I know there's likely a stage tech reason for that addition, but it just feels right for talking about a character coming across as something outside of reality. Actually, the fact they're the only one in the entire musical in which what they are gives them superpowers is enough for this interpretation. Overall, it is very possible that Electra is a variety of things that Control can't quite make sense of (computers, complex sexuality and gender, electric locomotives, etc.) but may not be afraid of or against, all put into one thing, which could be in the form of a nightmare. There is a hole in this theory that I wish I had some way to put into this but I can't quite, so if anyone else has any ideas that would be great. It's the fact that Control isn't afraid of GB and Electra, and in fact seems to favor them. However, this irrational nightmare theory seems to work perfectly in the perspective of Rusty.
I went to the Tech Center for a second visit today, and I guess I got possessed and cooked up these whiteboard masterpieces
I'm thinking of making the knight guy a Totally Accurate Battle Simulator OC since I drew him from the top of my head and he turned out really giving TABS
About StEx taking place in a dream. Electra to me seems like two things: - The monster in a completely random and irrational nightmare that gives you genuine terror as a child but is then turned into a genuinly hilarious memory once you've matured. - That one thing that ruins a completely plot cohesive dream and makes it into nonsense.
A glittery colorful mystery being with apparently a lot of fame interrupting the main event in almost total darkness to demand attention and warn about how dangerous it is, make everyone circle around it, and then join in on the main plot of the dream but still not do much aside from continuing to interrupt it is such random silly nightmare being activities. Not to mention AC/DC is in 7/8 after a ton of 4/4 songs and the chorus of the older versions get high pitched and/or out of tune.
I FINALLY made a new ref for my component oc! I need to draw her more. I might try to make her (one of?) my first oc(s) to be actually relevant outside the friendgroup since she's my main fandom oc.
If I had a nickel for every musical with very little (if any) plot other than characters trying to win/earn something and most of the music is just them introducing themselves, I'd have 7 nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that that formula's been used that many times, right?
Now look, this isn’t a knock on any of these musicals. I love all most of them. I just think it’s fun to point things out and compare.
(Plus, it is a little ironic that “Cats” gets such grief over “There’s no plot! It’s just characters introducing themselves to win something,” when it is not the only musical to do that, and technically “A Chorus Line” did it first. There are some other arguments to be made for why “Cats” is weird, but the plot format is not one of them.)
Granted, some of these do have more plot than others. “Spelling Bee” and “Six,” almost all characters get at least some character growth (Also “Ride the Cyclone,” despite an argument in the show about if every story needs a lesson). “A Chorus Line” ends with them all coming together as “One.” “Assassins” shows them trying to recruit a member to their ranks and includes a political message about the right to happiness. “Hands on a Hardbody” shows tensions rising and unfairness in the competition as time stretches on.
BONUS: You can narrow this formula down even further to “Spelling Bee,” “Six,” and “Ride the Cyclone” to the contest having six competitors. “Spelling Bee” and “Ride the Cyclone” even break down neatly to three boys and three girls. Also, similar characters in “Six” and “Ride the Cyclone,” at least according to Tumblr user @killmebythebeach
Honorable Mention to “Godspell,” which I feel has the spirit of these shows with a very disconnected plot and each ensemble member getting their solo and there being only a couple of songs that actually advance the plot, but is missing two things that the others all have in common.
It’s not a competition.
The songs don’t tell us anything about the characters. The show is literally so not-character-centric that only two characters have names, and for the rest, the actors use their real names. Also, the songs could for the most part be Contemporary Christian songs.
In conclusion, I have procrastinated enough on my actual work. I’ve just thought about this too much to not put it on paper (or at least digital paper). There’s no meaning to this.
(*cue Ocean yelling about how every story’s got to have a lesson)
Okay… maybe if you feel like you wish your life were a musical and you want your big “Defying Gravity”-esque moment where your life turns around, maybe your life is already a musical: It’s just one where your turning point is smaller, like purposely rejecting perfection by misspelling a word, or being willing to share your dreams no matter how ridiculous they seem. Not everyone gets to lead a revolution, but everyone can learn to be kind and put competition aside in favor of being a good human being.
I would like to add a musical to this list: Starlight Express It is exactly, TO THE POINT what you're describing. A ton of quirky characters (in this case locomotives and railcars) who all want to win something (a race) and a lot of the songs are just them introducing themselves and aura farming Also note that StEx is also an ALW musical and shares a lot of character archetypes with Cats!
