#Strange Noises from the Hole in the Wall

[i-may-be-an-emu]

moment of appreciation for when Sam mentions contactless payment Luke looks confused because his character (Clarissa) was born in 1742

[boogflake]

he’s so cute i hope he doesn’t hear voices in his wall 🚗🚂🍅

[solo-walker]

Writing about Loco Motion and rewatching the play while sitting on my train berth with nothing but the dark night outside the window is certainly An Experience.

[dingdinghq]

hello sfth fandom. i have a very important question

what are we calling timothy/billy/benjamin from snfthitw? i was simply gonna peter steven him (timothy billy benjamin being his full name) but i've seen many call him just benjamin. i would like to know if we've, in our one brain cell way, decided on a set name yet for tagging purposes

[flavili]

Illustrations based on longforms i loved from sfth !

[genderfluidblob]

Haven't finished the video yet but had a brain sparkle moment

[i-dont-know-how-this-site-works]

I love all of Tom's characters, like the witchfinder general, the astral projecting mother, the milkman's son and

[ailendolin]

This was the strangest version of Starlight Express I've ever seen and I've loved every single second of it.

Tom, as Sam said, was genuinely creepy as Locomotion

AJ not realising Sam was his son was freaking hilarious

Sam and the bird puns - favourite running gag

Luke's Clarissa was a darling and instant favourite

Timothy becoming Billy becoming Benjamin - classic

I'm so glad I've been to the UK often enough in the last two years that I instantly understood the "See it. Say it. Sorted," reference

I'd like to think Clarissa shouting, "Free coffee!" was her way of defying Locomotion one last time

I feel so sorry for the 400 children who'll never get to go home (though at least they're not carriages anymore so there's that) but I love how the audience cheered when Clarissa returned

Timothy's mum must be so confused that her husband is calling their son Benjamin now lol

[bosetsu]

My first fanart in 2 years? Drawing horror for a comedy improv? Yeah, that's on brand

[je-lurk]

Ah, yes.

Timothillynjamin

[instantpansies]

STRANGE NOISES FROM THE HOLE IN THE WALL HEADCANONS/INTERPRETATIONS UHHH OBVIOUS SPOILERS. CLARISSA CENTRIC CAUSE. HOLY SHIT

clarissa is to locomotion as clara is to the nutcracker. she's the kid who dreamed him into existence hundreds of years ago. i know he says he's older than the devil - i think that's still plausible, he's existed since thought but wasn't attached to the Silver Line or brought into physical existence until clarissa, lonely or in danger or just bored, imagined a world where she could escape from her everyday life and live as a grown-up(? maybe? since benjamin/timothy/billy seemed to age up as soon as he went through the portal?), with freedom and whimsy and eventually a relationship with the friendly driver.

why do i say this? because otherwise im really fucking confused lmao, that first scene where clarissa and loco are introduced is strange in the context of the end of the play. they seem to have known each other for a good while before they get on the train. they act like a young couple who's stumbled upon the silver line as an escape from danger and now they're excited for their new life in a new, safe world. except that loco also says he's been driving the train for years.

(looking back, that very much feels like a scenario from a child's imagination - or perhaps a dream - where of course he's been doing this for years, that's his job, but of course they're glad they've found the train together, this is a new experience for her so it's just an extension of her perspective)

but clara is, she says, a child when she gets on the train. idk how old "little girl" is, but if we run with this headcanon and also assume that the timeline is both linear and literal, she's imagining herself in some form of a sexual relationship with loco at a pretty young age.

i posit that this can be reconciled in several ways (some more disturbing or inappropriate than others), but one thing that could be considered is that the first scene where loco and clarissa are introduced is symbolic of their relationship over the course of the train's history. depending on how old clarissa was when she first dreamt the world into existence, she might not have even been very aware of loco, and spent her time just enjoying the escapism or whatever. after a few years or however long, she starts to get older and decides to learn how she's actually done this, maybe spends a long time trying to understand exactly what's going on. maybe her research leads her to a relationship with loco, i don't know. they do get on the train together, maybe, when they're both young (or, well, relatively speaking) and new to the world, and loco eventually has been driving the train for years and years and clarissa makes it a bit more tolerable with some companionship after a long lonely time. but those things don't happen simultaneously, because i think those things don't really work simultaneously. that scene is a sort of speedrun/amalgamation of how the two of them have interacted over the years. and yeah i guess that means they fucked at one point in there

(im going to be transparent, some of that is a bit of cope/rationalization. i think loco and the conductor are very exes/begrudging coworkers vibes, but i do like clarissa and loco together as well - unsettlingly powerful girl x eldritch being with a soft spot is a very good trope. and im trying to make it work out okay? give me a break lol. you don't have to agree with me on this, but once i see a luke and tom couple with a fun and compelling dynamic i will not let them go even if the ethics get a bit hard to explain later on. sorry, anyways moving on)

additionally, and i probably should have said this earlier, a reason i think this whole nutcracker theory holds up is because clarissa holds a sort of unique power in the world. she's been on the silver line for hundreds of real-years, who knows how many train-years, and still remembers her name and something of her old life. loco isn't hostile to her, even confirming her memory of her name and reminding her of her birthdate. with everyone else (ex. benjamin), he actively discourages them from remembering their lives. despite seemingly being one of the oldest passengers, she doesn't transform for hundreds of years. she obviously has some significance.

you know how that ties in? if this is clarissa's world, if her mind is what created the whole thing, then i think it makes sense to assume it's tied to her. as she begins to question her surroundings, then panic as she realizes she can't leave, her emotional and/or mental state becomes less stable, less utopic, less perfect. the dream begins to turn into a nightmare. and it becomes. well. an ouroboros. the snake eats its own tail and the train goes in circles and the escapist fantasy clarissa once loved becomes a prison of her own design. trapped in the very thing that was supposed to save her.

maybe that's why anthony and benjamin can get out when they do - as clarissa's world decays, as she finally begins to become part of the nightmare, as she melds with the train, the world has to shift a bit. it's reaching the point of no return - once clarissa has been fully sucked in, the train will never stop again. falling into an infinite nothing. but in that moment, there's one final chance for the conductor to stall locomotion, one final leap that could at last pull benjamin and anthony and everyone who's been sucked in by clarissa's black hole of a nightmare out of the portal and back into the real world.

and now, clarissa has lost three hundred years of a life that should never have lasted so long. gained perhaps thousands of years of memories of joy and connection and despair and panic and forever forever forever. and she is once again trapped in a vessel of her own making - her body is that of the child she has not been for lifetimes. her world is dead and gone - not just the world she created, but the world she escaped from as well. what of locomotion, that brief flash of connection? does he even exist anymore? who is she, now? who was she? where can she possibly go from here?

shoutout delirium_undead on discord for going along with the nutcracker theory and helping me flesh this out. your ideas are so galaxy brained and i am forever in your debt

[i-may-be-an-emu]

I’m sorry did Tom just. Lick AJ’s nose.

[boogflake]

we go loco when we’re in motion 🚂⚙️🦌

[solo-walker]

Does anyone want to hear my analysis on how Loco Motion and the Silver Rail are a metaphor for the soul-sucking corporate world that traps you in a mindless, meandering routine?

I can provide textual (...is that the correct word in case of a play??) evidence.

[wordswhisperinthedark]

one word for the new play: hadestown

[redballon01]

One of my favourite SFTH tropes is child who had a name or maybe not getting confused , and then being told the wrong one .

And there are now over 400 of those poor kids . (Peter from the milkman and allllll of those that were turned into train carriages)