I’m sure this has been thought about before, but man does it interest me how One-One’s mechanics work.
One as we see him from Book 4 didn’t have the split eyes that One-One has, and presumably only had the four legs as One-One normally has. But with the ability to split himself as One-One, both halves somehow get a second pair of legs that more or less seem to come from nowhere to have a total of eight legs between Sad-One and Glad-One. And on top of that, the intersection of their hemispheres is completely flush and white colored, which is it’s own bag of weirdness.
I mean, if we extrapolate from from the concept storyboards in the crew yearbook that were used to try pitching Book 5, the actual plans for Book 5 and how Amelia turned One into One-One might have involved literally ripping him in half. If we presume that that really is what the crew decided for the full Book 5 script and not just for pitching the idea of a Book 5, then the unusually flush surfaces at the interlock between Sad-One and Glad-One’s halves could carry some fascinating implications about how he was designed in the first place.
After all, you’d expect a machine being torn in half to have a bunch of broken wires and other exposed internals at the point of breakage, not the flush surfaces Sad-One and Glad-One sport.
Did One always have the ability to physically split himself in half, aka being designed with such a capability from the very start but which operated much differently than it is utilized now before Amelia broke him (and the mechanism by extension)? Or is it that when split, that’s how his internal damage ‘healed’ itself at the point of breakage via ‘something something advanced technology’? If splitting in half was something that One could do, then what intended function did it serve?
How do the number tattoos in Infinity Train change?
How can a tattoo change the number it's presenting, and how can it show up on a passenger's arm and even on their entire body if it's only printed on their palm?
I've got two basic explainations, both are quite scary to think about:
The ink (or ink-like substence) can move over the person's body, and multiple itself when needed.
The ink has glow mode - the visible number, and non-glow mode, for where a number could present, but does not. The "tattoo machines" actually just activate the glow of the first number, while the special ink is inserted earlier, all over the person's body, waiting to glow in case the passenger goes through a massive regression.
okay but i kind of love the idea of Grace staying on the train to see the Apex kids off, and lowering her own number in return. but why does it lower now? good deeds and helping others don't always help fix your problems, but see
Grace did a lot of what she did out of fear of being alone. as part of her recompense, she has to learn to get attached and then let people go
All right, so apparently the Ghoms are outside the wasteland to (presumably) scare passengers back onto the Infinity Train, and the train itself has a powerful force to it that naturally pulls back inhabitants that try to leave.
We also know that the Apex has apparently been killing train inhabitants by throwing them onto the train’s wheels (Grace -or was it Simon- casually mentions that they’ll do this to MT and Dracula, so apparently this is standard procedure and not something they just decided to do out of nowhere).
And, inhabitants are made for a purpose, particularly in regards to passengers. Now, I don’t think the Infinity Train will appreciate some of its passengers killing off its creations and actively avoiding their character development. And we know One-One isn’t in charge of making cars because he’s surprised, confused, and even doesn’t know how some of them function in the minisodes (and I doubt Amelia made those cars because they have nothing to do with the past she was making). Mace even implies that them trying to kill MT is part of the Train’s will.
So basically... what if the Infinity Train produces a specialized inhabitant in order to defend itself? Kind of like how the body has an immune system and white blood cells to protect its body and its parts. What if it creates a ‘defensive measure’ that will attack the Apex if they keep destroying its creations? Keep in mind, we know the Infinity Train can create some pretty terrifying things, many of which are reality-bending. This is all pure speculation, but it could turn into something horrifying if the Infinity Train decides that the passengers are being too much of nuisances and decides to... off them. But, maybe not- Perhaps Mace is right and the Infinity Train just does not care for its creations, especially since it’s infinite and they’re all replaceable. Perhaps it prioritizes the passengers’ lives over all else (I don’t think the Infinity Train is actively hurt by the deaths of its inhabitants)- Or maybe not, because the Movie Theater Car also has a Concessions Booth that eats people, unless a legitimately life-threatening experience is necessary for some passengers’ development?
(Also, does anyone else find it concerning how most of the Apex are kids, many of whom are younger than Tulip or Jesse? Does that mean most of the passengers are children in general? Or are kids the only ones naive enough to follow Grace and Simon?)
OneOne probably suffers from memory loss or perhaps even has amnesia and was created by “the conductor.” I’m calling it right now! 👀
He referred to the mechanical monster as a “friend” and the monster seemed to know him based on its reaction.
The cat also seemed very familiar with OneOne and was trying to take OneOne to the conductor as fast as possible.
Both the cat and the robotic beast went back to the conductor (presumably) after confronting OneOne, perhaps suggesting OneOne was once of great importance or currently is of great importance to whatever the conductor’s motives are.
OneOne seemed to be familiar with the mechanical beast who seemingly works for the conductor after hearing that line “return to your seats!”
This is probably just a joke, but OneOne said he would put the interaction with the mechanical beast or “friend” down “on file.”
OneOne could have initially been placed in the snow universe as a sort of security camera for the conductor (a suggestion from my younger brother).
The conductor is probably OneOne’s “mother.”
EDIT: The mechanical beast/monster’s name is Steward 👨✈️
Whether or not Grace is the next protagonist of Book 3 or not, I still think she’s an interesting character with at least some depth. As harsh as she is to Jesse ‘for his own sake’ and downright callous to other train inhabitants, we know full and well that she’s not heartless; The moment she thinks Jesse dies, she’s clearly unhappy about it and when Simon tries to spew some social darwinist nonsense, she reprimands him and reminds him to show some respect. When she mentions that one kid who hurt themselves with the grappling gear, she’s also clearly saddened by whatever unfortunate event took place. She cares about people, albeit in a rather twisted way.
Grace isn’t inherently a bad person, and it’s important to remember that she was lied to. Amelia told her that having a higher number is a good thing, and Grace believed her because at the time she was going through some degree of emotional turmoil, lost in another dimension on an unusual, eldritch train, and didn’t have any idea of what was going on. So of course she’d latch onto what Amelia said, and place all her stock into that. Not to mention, Amelia ruled for 33 years... Grace is an adult now, certainly, but we don’t know when she boarded. And even if she was an adult when it happened, that doesn’t change what I said earlier.
(Her profile in the train’s records display her as an adult, but maybe the profile we see is up-to-date and not one of the person’s original appearance. On the other hand, the Apex was around for a good bit I imagine, so if it was up-to-date then Simon and Grace would have their face markings. It’s possible the train disregards that part of a person when making a mugshot, so who knows?)
More importantly, I want to talk about the face that Grace made the Apex. Which, we technically have no confirmation that Amelia didn’t deliberately start a cult. For now, however, I’m going to operate on the assumption that she didn’t. She doesn’t seem interested in worship from what we’ve seen and just wants to go back to her past with Alrick, even if it’s a fake one. She spent 33 years trying to make the perfect car, so it seems like a waste of her time for her to establish a set cult and doctrine. Last I checked, Amelia and Alrick’s happy past didn’t involve them having a cult worshipping the two.
So, I think we can safely assume that the cult part was Grace looking at a bunch of kids, wanting to make sure they’re safe (because she’s ultimately an altruistic person), and the rest sort of happened from there. Maybe Amelia told her that the highest number has authority, as a way to potentially deter other passengers from interfering with her plans and trying to take the title of Conductor from her. Regardless, Grace listened intently to what this older authority figure had to say and kept it to heart, and added some more as well.
Which... most people don’t worship others out of nowhere and convince everyone else to wear borderline-religious marks on their faces, down to even replicating the whistle made by said ‘deity’ and creating a hand signal that deliberate evokes the image of that person. Again, it’s possible Amelia started the cult as a way to keep other passengers from interfering by having them worship her. But, if I want to get into some baseless speculation for a bit...
Perhaps whatever issue Grace had in life involved her being devoted to an authority figure, one she put a LOT of stock into? If she’s doing the opposite of fixing her issues and adding onto them, perhaps she’s made worse the one that got her on the Infinity Train to begin with. Most people don’t start cults for fun- Usually they do it for power, and/or because they believe in the legitimacy of what they’re worshipping. Grace doesn’t seem to be a power-hungry monster, just a misguided person, so I wonder if she’s also suffered from misguidance from someone else before. That’d help explain why she started a cult-following of Amelia; From her original circumstances, that was a thing she was just supposed to do- Follow and worship an authority figure without questioning them. Grace may have created the cult because she was emulating past experiences and things she was taught to do.
That also brings me to another point I brought up earlier, how Grace may have had a bad experience with a malicious train denizen who betrayed her. Perhaps she trusted that person and put a lot of faith into them, only to have that trust broken. It could contribute to a repeating theme of Grace having to deal with authority figures she places too much trust into, especially ones who don’t care about her.
Granted, I’m not sure Infinity Train would be allowed to discuss real-life cults, or the effects of extremely evangelical households on children. But it’s neat to talk about, and speculate. Plus, this show DID grind someone to death on a train wheel, so maybe Owen could get away with it by being very roundabout in how he describes/references it. Ultimately, it’s all speculation.
