#but they're still greaseball!!

[gutsofgold]

ily woman greaseball

ily man greaseball

ily greaseball

there's no difference aside from the fact that one of them is a girl and the other is a man. can we keep in mind that they're the same character

they're the same character!!!

[dinahdoeeyes]

Greaseball is at least 5x worse in the 1983 workshop (which doesn't bother me because it's a non-canon early version of StEx), but I still got treats from it.

You may ask, "Tumblr user dinahdoeeyes, why would you screenshot Greaseball pulling Dinah gently by her hair and then wrapping his arm around her?" To which I respond: "... HEAR ME OUT!!"

(The answer is that I am what the Victorians would call "a nasty little wretch who listens to too much Lana Del Rey, Nicole Dollanganger, and Ethel Cain.")

[honey-dont]

stex month day 13: flat top!

favorite actors: SO many. ross dawes is my forever fave but i also love delano williamsen, dennis courtney, luuk hartog, todd lester, mark davis, richard mylan, marcel brauneis, and paul treacy! plus whoever played him in tuacahn, i've never been able to find a cast list </3

i think a lot of actors tend to play him pretty one-note so i love when people balance his jerk asshole side with his softer caring side! plus he's always fun comedic relief, shoutout to ross for smacking himself in the face with his own brick. and how can we forget dennistop's goofy helium laugh. love him

favorite songs/scenes: watching him mess around in freight and the blues is SO fun he's so funny <33 the lil spin and suspender snap paul does is adorable, also love him bothering this poor random woman in the audience with his brick. i mentioned ross above but him climbing around on the set like a jungle gym is so so cute!! also tuachan flats getting super excited to see rusty and waving at him!!

love literally all of his and dustin's interactions too, esp when he waves off the rockies for teasing him ough. their little goofy solo in freight!! <3

AND ofc all of his and rusty's interactions! him being a little shit to poppa and rusty jerking him back by his couplers....peak sibling behavior. love him giving rusty his helmet back after he gets beat up, esp how ross does it bc he doesn't tell him to give up!! he still believes in him!! brb exploding

him and poppa/momma are rly fun too, flat top is definitely their least favorite child but they still care about each other <3

honorable mentions to dinah giving him a cheek kiss too it's so cute

OH wait one last thing. when he hears about cb's plan and he looks SO disappointed in greaseball bc that's him finding out that his hero isn't who he thought he was and UGH. it's so good

wait i lied one more. him and rocky messing around during the megamix and throwing the brick to each other <3

favorite costumes: london!! oh my god all the little details are so good like he's quintessentially 80s london punk and it shows. his little socks! the steel toes on the skates!! the bigass frankenstein bolt collar <3 i'm especially fond of his earlier fluffy black & silver wig, it's adorable

i also loooveee the 3d glasses makeup but the bit where he just had graffiti scribbled all over his face is so funny like "hey what should we put on him to show that he's rebellious?" "just write SEX + DRUGS" "ok got it"

also brick on a chain my beloved <3 AND in late london where his belt was made of wood planks to show that he's a flatcar!! so good

i also have a fondness for on ice flats. his stupid nail boots. and tuacahn bc i respect the decision to put him in a crop top and chaps

favorite ships/friendships: flatdust is my train otp i love them i love them i love them <333 they have it all....friends to lovers....sunshine/grumpy....introvert/extrovert....good stuff. their friendship is so sweet to me bc they're total opposites and yet! special shoutout to that one boot where it genuinely looks like they're about to start making out onstage

i love him and rusty too, they're absolutely siblings to me and wind each other up all the time but they still care for each other! also him and cb in a frenemy situation bc cb thinks it's funny to push his buttons

his hero worship on greaseball is also really interesting bc it ties into his whole self-discovery arc imo

headcanons: he's physically the weakest of the freight and he absolutely has a chip on his shoulder about it </3 i hc him as a bulkhead so engines tend to dislike him too due to him being prone to derailing at speed, so he's desperate to prove that is he is cool and strong actually!! he's also like 5'4" without the boots lmao little guy

he's scared of thunderstorms but won't admit to it so dustin will hold his hand and pretend that he's the one who's scared ;-; he also helps dustin out in his garden sometimes but he sucks at it so he just gets to stand there and be moral support. guy who doesn't get the concept of seeds and will just rip up whole flowers for dustin to plant

also very rarely smiles bc he doesn't like his tooth gap :( dustin thinks it's cute tho

unpopular opinion: flat top is such an interesting character bc like. he does NOTHING and yet he has one of the strongest character arcs in the whole show! it's all about him figuring out who he is and where he belongs and it's so fascinating to watch unfold in the background. him racing with rusty in the final would've been such a good culmination of that

also i don't think this is unpopular but on my knees begging him to be punk again like that's his whole point

anyway sorry for writing an entire essay i'm normal about him.

(last two pics are commissions from arachnidal and sparemayonnaise!)

[whistlingstarlight]

C.B. is a character I don't talk a lot about bc at his core I don't think he's as deep as some people say, but there's a very specific era of the show in which I think he's at his strongest, and absolutely is a deep character.

And that's when he decides to backstab both Rusty and Greaseball, one after the other.

It's never made much sense to me why during Wide Smile, he promises Electra he'll wreck Rusty in the next race. Electra does not care about Rusty, the two almost never actually interact. The exception to this 80s London, in which they race against each other in the second heat. Obviously in this case, there's actually grounds for Electra wanting Rusty out of the running later down the line. But from Broadway onwards Electra only has one rival, and that's Greaseball.

It does make sense for C.B. to promise Greaseball he'll get Rusty out of the race. Even though Greaseball's newer rival is Electra, he doesn't like Rusty and has never wanted him in the races. His specific reasoning can vary, but however you see it, Greaseball will want Rusty out of the running. Greaseball and C.B. are also already shown to have an alliance, as it's always implied in-show C.B. has something to do with his race partner's wreck in Heat 1, and in There's Me Greaseball shushes him when he says "what a team". It's not really a secret that C.B. isn't as nice as he acts.

Electra, meanwhile, their strongest dynamic is with Greaseball. Rusty isn't a concern to them because they do not care about him. But Greaseball, he's a threat.

C.B. would naturally play on all these different dynamics. Promising Greaseball he'll help him, then instantly going to Electra and promising to wreck Greaseball makes him even more two-faced, and amps up his danger levels by making it clear he does not care about any of these engines.

C.B. pulling the strings of all three main players does still come into play later, granted, but I think it adds something to Wide Smile for his twist to be a much punchier one, where he reveals nobody is safe from him, even the engine we presumed he had an alliance with.

To me at least, one thing better than a twist where a character is revealed to be the bad guy is a villain where the twist is that they're so much worse than we first thought.

C.B.'s on his own side, after all.

[trainfanz]

Further ramblings on London 2024 as I've now had a chance to listen to it! Below the cut! (I can't send out the audio, sorry.) SPOILERS ABOUND!

ACT ONE

"Stop that boring music!" IS GONE!

There really isn't a lot to separate the additional trains. Their introductions and little pre-race mantras are all "They're fast!"

Al Knott sounds great.

I appreciate they rewrote Crazy to actually make it more of an intro song for Rusty instead of just sticking it there.

Arguing before 'I Am Me' is hard to follow with no visuals!

"Friends!" "Friends!" "More than friends?!" "-just friends." HAHA

"Trucks will identify themselves! Fuel Trucks!" Honey, they're all fuel trucks.

Freight really doesn't get to finish and I don't think I really like that.

Stopping here to say that Hydra is the standout of this new incarnation. Going into his little mantra at every applicable moment and annoying everyone else is hilarious.

AC/DC is... fine. Still prefer the older sound.

New take on Pumping Iron however is pretty good!

I want to see Control offering Pearl a spot to sit so bad.

"Please welcome to the other side of the tracks: Momma McCoy." "HOW WE DOIN?!" That's great.

Shoutout to them for using my preferred little outro ditty for the blues. Hard to explain what I mean.

I get that the 4th qualifying engine isn't integral to the downhill final but to only have 1 winner in Race 2 feels weird.

Surprise El DeBarge Lyrics???

ACT TWO

The Rap is pulling a lot from the first two incarnations - "Race Time" shows up in the megamix but not in the actual song.

Dinah UGLY crying hhhh

Slick gets her own take on Wide Smile. Not sure if I like it but it's definitely unique.

Still think what immediately follows Race 3 ends up being 2 versions of the same scene stuck together, but that's not this production's problem.

It stings that Right Place, Right Time is gone. I get that it doesn't really work with the fuel trucks as apposed to the Rockies but I miss it!

No awkward key change in Starlight Sequence!! (If you've heard the current German version, you know.)

For how integral to the plot he is I expected Hydra to get a little more of his own number, but the "It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when" is the most song he gets and the rest is just talking.

Aaand here's Lord Andy's big twist, Rusty explicitly converts himself to run on hydrogen. More on this in a few lines!

They REALLY get their mileage out of what they got Lord Andy to write for this production.

Ok, I see what people mean by them altering Prusty in 2017 to fit 'I Do' better instead of changing the song again. I get it now. I think.

Even as a sapphic, Greaseball still can't spell.

New lyrics in Light At The End of The Tunnel is WEIRD.

I don't hate that they try to work in a message about clean fuels but at the same time I don't think its necessary? Was the original Starlight really meant to convince the audience that coal is the future in real life? Not really. Especially at the end things feel a bit heavy handed but again, I don't HATE it.

Still amazed I am open to/liking this new take on Starlight as much as I am.

[phopollo]

Tell us about the other characters in Rusty and GB's photos!

TEEHEE IM SO GLSD YOU ASKED (this is going to be a long post)

Also just for anyone who's curious about the mentioned photos becsuse you may have missed the post, fear not, you can just check it out right here 👍

So!! Let's start with Rusty's photo! I think it's pretty clear thst we've got Rusty in the center there, little baby man style, just a little guy-- but of course, he's not the only one there-- so let's talk about Rusty's little parental polycule!

To his left is Momma!

A bit younger than she's appearing in the actual rest of the story, but there she is! Momma is pretty much the same as the musical version-- previous world champion racer, retired in her old age, etc etc

Above Rusty though, is Poppa! That's right, I say both Momma and Poppa rights for Rusty

Poppa is a steam engine switcher like Rusty. He ran a few races back in his younger days, but he never really won any-- and while he's about the age that he really probably should be retiring, he's still working hard!

And then to Rusty's right is Memphis!

Alternatively, the original Belle! I've decided to use just Memphis, since there 2024 Belle already, and I wasn't planning any connection between them, so making them Jr/Sr just didn't feel right. Memphis has a roughly similar story to her canon one as well! She's an old sleeping car who used to race with Momma, and was even her coach for many of Momma's years as champion!

It may not be as obvious because he calls her by name, but Memphis is absolutely also one of Rusty's parents! Unfortunately, they as a family got separated when Poppa and Memphis got assigned to another station/train yard when Rusty was younger-- it's been maybe a whole decade at this point. Rusty will always volunteer to bring something to the other station when they send requests for help though, just for the opportunity to see his other two parents

So then! Now let's talk about Greaseball's family photo!

In case it wasn't entirely clear, because I used the like.... draft version of her wig; on the left is Junior!

This one's our little baby girlball! She is not having a good time :(

On the right is Virtuoso!

Lowkey, kinda just made him up, because Greaseball strikes me as having really complicated family relationships. They're kind of age gap siblings, they never really had anything in common aside from their father's racing desires for them, and admittedly, in what turned out to be a golden child/black sheep situation, Virtuoso was very much the black sheep. He is very much what I'd consider as a "season 2" kind of character-- one mentioned a couple times or that you visually see the photo of some time during season 1 (shortly before the events of the musical through Rusty becoming the champion), but you wouldn't actually hear about or meet him until season 2

And then finally, in the middle, we've got Senior

Everyone say hello Greaseball Senior, who's inspiration came from the very first iteration of Greaseball. He sustained a pretty serious injury pretty early on in his racing career, leaving him unable to get up to speeds to keep up with those around him. And while he could still work, he wasn't satisfied with that-- as a result, he ended uo pushiny his dreams and aspirations of racing on his kids pretty hard

As I mentioned earlier, the family dynamic and relationships are kind of.... rocky, to put it politely. Virtuoso is completely out of the picture at this point, and I definitely wouldn't say Jr and Sr get along. Jr will go out of her way to avoid him, but Sr keeps going out of his way to track her down because of the vicarious glory of being her, the current reigning world champion's, dad. Admittedly, Jr's view of family and what family is supposed to be is a little messed up because of all of this

[green-planets]

StEx Appreciation Month Day 13: Flat Top!

🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱

Face Claim: Mark Davis, Richard Mylan, or Delano Willemsen

Favourite Song/Scenes: I will never recover from Flat Top's intro in the spoof show. Between him almost rolling off the stage after throwing his brick (Rusty catches him and pulls him back), the “C'MON BIG BOY!”, the way he points at the Rockies when Dustin says “They're not rocks, they're aggregates!”, and the hyper aggressive dancing during the ‘Aggregates are Really Great’ segment, it may just be the greatest Flat Top performance ever (thank you Richard Mylan, you're my new favorite Flat Top!)

Okay now that that ramble is out of the way, he's extremely entertaining during Poppa/Momma's blues, I love how he teases and antagonizes Poppa/Momma and Rusty, he's so goofy when he worships Greaseball during Pumping Iron, I love the moment when he realizes that Greaseball isn't a good guy, He looks so torn when the gang is beating Rusty up and when he give Rusty his helmet back!!! Gutwrenching

Favourite Costumes: I've grown extremely fond of Flat Top's London costumes and the detail put into them (brick on a chain should be brought back!!!) I do like the versions with the brighter, more prominent graffiti designs and it's funny when he has random graffiti written on his face. I still like the Broadway/Bochum shoulder boxes better (load that guy up with bricks!!)

Favourite Ships/Friendships: Flat Top x Dustin, Flat Top x Rusty, Flat Top x Zero. Friends with the freight crew (except Lumber and Porter-- he has one-sided beef with them), Rusty, and the coaches. Best friends with Dustin and Ashley. Tried befriending Greaseball's gang but that didn't work out so well

Headcanons: He had so much fun being a little shit with Slick up until she betrayed Rusty (afterwards he's super wary of her). He was also expecting to be booted out of the freight crew's found family after his behavior during the races but they welcomed him back with open arms

Unpopular Opinion: A lot of people say he's unnecessary to the plot (which is true tbh) but the show feels so empty without him :(

🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱🧱

[starlight-lesbians]

https://www.tumblr.com/scealaiscoite/756187411996950528/prompts-for-helping-bathe-an-injured-loved

also dinah taking care of greaseball after an injury?

a/n: ok this is precious omg

Suds n Bubbles

warnings: really just injuries, implied nudity but not sexual

prompt: “so mr/mrs surly and serious likes having their hair washed for them, hm? don’t worry, i’ll keep your secret.”

Dinah was annoyed, like she was often, with her beloved girlfriend. Greaseball had once again pulled a stupid stunt to win a race and gotten herself hurt. The repair techs said she'd be fine in a couple days, but for now, Dinah was on care duty to make sure Greaseball would actually rest. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy doing it, quite the opposite really, but she was frustrated that Greaseball continued doing things she knew worried her.

They arrived back at their shared garage and Greaseball flopped unceremoniously onto the couch, whining about her head hurting from her fall. Dinah sighed and brought her an ice pack for her head, feeling how much dirt and sweat had gotten in her hair from the race, "You need to wash your hair sometime tonight, I'm not letting you in the bed this dirty."

Greaseball groaned, holding up her injured arm, "I can't wash my hair with my arm in a sling babe, can it wait?" Dinah shook her head, "Definitely not, I'll just have to do it, I guess" It wasn't like she didn't normally play with Greaseball's hair when they were going to sleep, so washing it wouldn't be any different. "So you're saying we can shower together?" Greaseball smirked at her in supremely dorky fashion considering her current position.

"Not in that way, you have a concussion, sugar" Dinah kissed her cheek, rolling her eyes when Greaseball put on a disappointed face, "I'll just wash your hair and shower myself while I'm in there, okay? No touching." Greaseball sighed and nodded, "Fine.."

Dinah hopped up from the couch and heated up some leftovers for dinner, making sure to mix a little extra diesel into Greaseball's so she'd have some extra energy. They ate dinner, and now Greaseball was dragging her feet about showering.

Managing to finally drag her much taller girlfriend into the bathroom, Dinah started helping her get undressed around the sling and get settled in the shower before she followed suit. "Okay I need you to either lean down or sit on the floor, I can't reach your head." Dinah was used to the extra height her wheels gave her, so she tended to forget exactly how short she really was. Greaseball sat down on the shower floor and looked up at Dinah expectantly, forcing back the grumbling she normally would be spewing about the situation.

Dinah started massaging some shampoo into her hair gently, and Greaseball practically melted into her hands immediately. This she was familiar with, she would always almost knock out from getting head scratches after all. "Stay upright honey, you still have to finish your shower when I'm done." Greaseball groaned and reluctantly righted herself, letting Dinah continue getting all the dirt and grease out of her hair.

“So Miss Surly and Serious likes having her hair washed for her, hm? don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret.” Dinah giggled, finishing up putting conditioner in Greaseball's hair as she started to get sleepy again, grumbling nondescriptly about being called surly, and the accusation of liking the treatment she was currently receiving. She couldn't deny it much though, considering she was practically putty in Dinah's hands.

Once Dinah finished rinsing her hair off, they finished showering and got into bed, "See, now the sheets can stay clean and I have to do less laundry, isn't that nice?" Dinah ruffled Greaseball's damp hair, smiling fondly. All she heard back was an affirmative grunt before Greaseball was fast asleep with her arms secured tightly around her waist.

(aww guys they're cute please ignore that this request took me so long, also yay first non headcanoned post!! everyone cheered!!)

[bellesdomain]

Latest news from London rehearsals... more characters! * Green Arrow * Orange Flash * Golden Eagle * Blue Lightning * Silver Bullet = enough ensemble engines to run full races, two heats, four competitors in each! Also, Silver Bullet has replaced Grey Wolf, which is a relief. Blue Lightning vs Blue Horizon, Horizon felt slightly more creative a name, but no big difference.

We also have confirmation of Electra's components being Killerwatt, male (bass) Volta, Wrench and Joule.

Also singing bass is "Hydra". I initially misread and thought we had a new name for Killerwatt, but no. We're short named Freight, with Porter, Lumber and Slick Oil being all we know so far. To stage the song "Freight", to my mind you absolutely need a minimum of four in each train, so the most logical assumption is that Hydra is another freight car. I'm still hoping for some sign of characters who could sing "Right Place, Right Time", but so far I'm not sure. Seems fair to assume that the role of Dustin has been renamed. The train-crashing villain cannot sing "Right Place, Right Time", nor can the heavy truck that believes in Rusty to race in the final. My thought is the number is simply cut, and we won't have break-dancers with a grim view on life. But I'd love to be wrong.

"Slick Oil" is confirmed to be in "One Rock'n'Roll Too Many" alongside Greaseball and Electra - I'm assuming the character is an oil tanker, and taking on the role of chaotically crashing trains, an oil tanker deliberately creating oil spills has some logic to it. Does confirm that Red Caboose as such, is out of the show. Slick Oil is played by Emily Martinez.

While this is what we can glean from the current situation, they're still more than a month away from opening. Lots can change between now and then.

[tending-the-hearth]

stex appreciation month day 1: rusty!!!!!

he's one of my favorite and most underrated theater protagonists EVER he's just a Little Guy

favorite actor/costume:

merging two prompts into one for bernie blanks and blake patrick anderson, both from the bochum production!

both versions mainly have to do with their appearances, but bernie's style just screams rusty to me, and one of my favorite parts is his curly hair. i think it's such a good juxtaposition agains greaseball's slicked back hair and electra's mohawk! POSSIBLE BROADWAY STEX REVIVAL IF YOU BRING BACK CURLY HAIR FOR RUSTY I WILL SELL YOU MY SOUL

and head in hands blake patrick anderson is the rusty ever, that photo of him just gives me the happiest feelings ever, when i picture rusty, i picture him 😭😭😭 lil floppy hat rusty my beloved

favorite song/scene

"crazy" is quite possibly my FAVORITE starlight express song, it is just pure joy, and i love the vibe of the coaches having such a fondness for rusty while still trying to get him to see reason. plus his and pearl's interactions is just adorable

also another favorite is i THINK from the vegas production, and it's when rusty saves pearl from flying off the track, and there's just one beat between the two of them before he goes skating off and i just melt into a puddle

favorite ships/friendships:

prusty will forever have my heart and soul as my favorite stex ship, however due to @goblin-iz-whack and @storyweaverofgondor, greaseball/rusty is probably my second favorite ship for rusty, they're just so silly and i'm such a sucker for friends to enemies to friends to lovers

friendships!!! favorite is rusty and dinah!!!! they're siblings your honor!!!

-

i'm going to try and do as many characters as i can this month, but at the very least i had to do my favorite guy <3 beloved fr

[beanghostprincess]

Shuggy headcanons as per request Madame: Love me some „Shanks being in love with Buggy’s long hair“, but I raise you „Buggy absolutely adores Shanks hair and can’t keep his hands out of it“. Granted, Shanks doesn’t really take care of his hair. Shanks is a bit of a greaseball at times. Suits Buggy well actually. When they were teens that gave him a perfect reason to just be „Eugh! When was the last time you washed this?“ While grabbing a fist full „OW! My hairs fine! I washed it last week!“ „LAST WEEK? GOD YOURE GROSS!“ and nag him about it till he cleaned up. He could always pretend the detached hands that raked trough Shanks hair after this where just there to make sure his idiot best friend did a good enough job. Actually he needs to check up on this every so often because clearly Shanks can’t be trusted to look after his own head and Buggy would be DAMNED if this ginger brought lice into their bunk HOLD STILL. The rituals…Elaborate but stupid as hell.

Shanks doesn’t mind as much as he pretends, as long as Buggy isn’t pulling his head this way and that by its roots, and enjoys the little bit of extra attention when Buggys fingers scratch over his scalp. On quieter days when they are hanging out together Buggy will actually relax enough to play with his hair without the guise of checking for dandruff for once and just absentmindedly chop a hand of to run his fingers trough while he is reading or even just bitching about something unrelated. Shanks just turns to mush every time this happens. Complete zen mode achieved.

In a world where they get together as adults again those moments become a bit more regular, usually when they are in bed together and they are both still in the process of waking up. „Feels nice…You got a real thing for my hair huh?“ Buggy shoots him an unimpressed look and Shanks can’t help but roll his eyes fondly as he answers: „I’m just checking something. I think it’s thinning out. If you keep going at this rate you’re gonna go bald.“.

As I said, the rituals : intricate but stupid as FUCK

So cute and sweet and also a bit angsty because just add the PINING to it,,, They make me go wild. Like, it's noticeable how I've been talking more about Shuggy lately and things like this make me go fucking insane. They were so in love. Gonna jump off a bridge. Anyway!

This is so real. Because Buggy would always complain about Shanks not washing his hair properly (even if one day he does have an immaculate, perfect hair) only to have the excuse to touch it or just be closer to Shanks without actually looking like a needy, pining idiot (does he even realize he's in love with Shanks? He will never admit it). And, y'know, I think Shanks genuinely ends up trying to take care of his hair (more or less. He just doesn't care much and forgets about doing it. Like yeah! Gonna be clean from now on! And then a week passes and he hasn't showered because he's been too busy with adventure to worry about it, or something) because he kind of likes the praise that comes with it afterward. Buggy saying something nice to him doesn't happen often, and he cherishes it forever. But it doesn't happen a lot bc he always ends up forgetting to wash his hair.

I'm a sucker for Shuggy being each other's first kisses, and if it happens while Buggy is playing with Shanks hair,, I might die. They're just too much.

Also, when they're older Shanks still doesn't take care of his hair and Buggy literally drags him to the shower with him. Shanks won't stop making sexual jokes about showering together and Buggy literally and genuinely just wants to clean Shanks as if he were a damn stray dog he just found (kind of the same thing tbh). Then Buggy makes him go back to bed with him and cuddle because he just needs a moment of romantic bliss before fighting his husband again.

[alumnusofheavenandhell]

(Contains spoilers) Alright so. I've watched the Megamix and MickeyJoTheatre's initial impressions video on youtube and. Y'know what, here are all my positive thoughts about stexlo so far:

Oh my god. Oh my god I'm so gay for both Greaseball and Electra. Al Knott's voice is GREAT.

Rusty and Pearl's interactions are cute, they kinda remind me of miis in Tomodachi Life if that makes sense? (Which is admittedly both a positive and a negative to me but still)

I know it's a bop but honestly I'm happy about Dinah's Disco being cut. It never made sense (Since when has Dinah cared about whistling? She could have a thousand other reasons to not want to race with Electra, and whistling was always Pearl's thing) and it had this weird moment of coded transphobia that always made me uncomfortable when otherwise Dinah is one of my favorite characters.

It sounds like Slick Oil is in the role of Post-2018 Bochum Caboose, and it's hard to say with such limited information still, but I feel like I'm not gonna dislike Slick Oil nearly as much, because it doesn't feel like they're pretending to be a character they're not, if that makes sense? Like, they still have Wide Smile but hopefully (and probably) the lyrics have been changed enough to make it feel more distinct.

I love all the coaches' designs, especially the blue and pink checkered one (which I'm GUESSING is Dinah but I'm not 100% sure).

Also Momma's design. She looks great.

In general I can best describe the costumes as "growing on me." I said these would be my positive thoughts, so: I like the colors and the holographic and shiny materials, and for the most part I like the silhouettes. I don't think it's strictly necessary that they look like real train cars, same way it's not necessary that the cats in Cats look like real cats (even if I prefer it when they do).

I love Control (and their bedroom!) being on stage. They cast several kids as Control, and I'm guessing that's so that none of them have to work too many nights in a row.

Coda of Freight is one of my favorite songs, glad to see it there.

I'm excited to find out more about Hydra! Their song sounds very threatening! But honestly I'm here for it!

[lastritesbish]

Now we need to expand on the life of the Greaseball-Dinah-and small child beginning with F (I forgot her name I’m sorry, I know it’s two syllables and begins with an F 😭) family. We also probably need to give them a surname so I don’t have to phrase it like this each time

fairbury!! its like. fairy but with a bu added in there

also u r right !!! greasey and dinah still race, just with fairbury cheering them on from the sidelines!! shes rather clingy, so aside from that, shes always with one of her mothers. she has anxiety about being away from them, and she also depends on one of them to help hold her up so she doesn't fall.

all the coaches and other rolling stock in their yards are pretty used to having a little engine toddling around, especially belle and tassita. and they're also all used to the random piles of diesel left on the ground, thrown up by yours truly. she also really admires rusty, and how steamers can whistle- much to greaseballs chagrin. but she supports fairbury interacting with others, as shes really the only child and needs people to talk to.

with fairburys exsistance, greaseball has softened incredibly so over the years. shes rather soft now, yet will deny that like her life depends on it. fairbury and dinah know the truth, and will snicker together at greasy denials. dinah and fairbury also like to bake together and stroll around!!

[whistlingstarlight]

What are your thoughts on the new freight (fuel) trucks and their respective roles within the show?

I actually quite like them! Mostly.

Let's go over each of them

Porter and Lumber

Porter and Lumber are probably my favourite new characters, period (aside from perhaps Golden Eagle). They're reminiscent of their predecessors, the Rockies and Hip Hoppers, but still with their own mannerisms. The fact they're bad guys, and henchmen to a bigger bad specifically, is such a unique idea.

Porter in particular has a softer, mellower side, as he can be seen helping Dinah calm down during the final race, using breathing exercises.

Slick

Slick isn't a terrible villain, and the fact she's a partial successor to Flat-Top makes me biased to her, but I must admit it was obvious she was the bad guy. Even with the attempts to set Hydra up as a red herring. Best I like how she's set apart from her fellow villain by having henchmen, where C.B./Cabs working alone. Why exactly they work for her isn't made clear, but I imagine given how she's shown manipulating Rusty, Greaseball and Electra, that she's also manipulated the generally nice Porter and Lumber into doing her dirty work.

I have to say though, making Porter the main villain would've been a bigger twist. Much like how it was obvious Flat-Top would eventually side with Greaseball, it was kinda obvious the oil truck would end up also working with Greaseball.

Hydra

This guy seems to be the fandom favourite atm, but honestly I. Really don't care for him much. The Hydrogen mantra gets pretty fucking annoying after a while, especially when it replaces Rusty's beautiful "Earth, Water, Air Fire" pre-race chant. Tbh what I like most about him is that nobody seems to like him, even though he means well. He gets on the rest of the freight trucks' nerves and their "oh Christ it's this asshole again" attitude towards him always amuses me.

[floralovebot]

omg i’m so curious about your thoughts on the aisha tecna helia riven dynamic? or like any dynamic of the winx & specialists tbh!

honestly in my head i have so many headcanons of winx club. especially between the winx & specialists that i forget that they aren’t canon.

THIS is the aisha tecna helia riven dynamic of all time

akjdhglkjadhg i couldn't figure out how to say it so here's a helpful chart

but actually though i'm Obsessed with riven and helia both really respecting aisha and tecna and thinking they're sooo cool and strong meanwhile aisha and tecna are like are those guys still here ? wack. riven's like "ah yes aisha. she knows how to ride the hoverbikes and fight. our battle will be legendary." and aisha is just "move over greaseball" I'm OBSESSED. aisha canonically thinking helia's poems are Cringe while helia is a corner writing a little poem about how cool the winx are. riven calls tecna because he crashed his bike (he definitely doesn't need help how dare you) and tecna's like "i'll be there in five don't touch anything" (he definitely could've done it without her and he definitely didn't want to hangout but they may as well since she's there). riven and helia are so cringe coded and aisha and tecna love them for it akjdglk

ALSO SAME like what do you mean brandon and aisha don't go on hikes together in canon?? yes they do i literally saw them,, (ueueue) and bloom and timmy playing video games together is also canon? it literally happened on screen 🤨 these things are definitely canon and definitely not a product of my mind 🤨

[electricfied-wolf]

Dear stex fandom please ask abt my stex ocs I want to talk abt them so so bad. But I specifically want to talk abt Greaseball's family bc they're all on my mind constantly so have the info for them: if you've read the fic of mine they're in you already know them but for those who haven't-

Sunburner- Greaseball's dad, BIG ol' union pacific passenger engine, incredibly deep voice, basically ran the yard before Greaseball grew up and took over. Very protective papa. Bridgette- Greaseball's mom, bar car, got the 50s housewife vibe going on with her appearance, MADLY in love with Sunburner you physically cannot separate these two. Incredibly doting mother, will fuss over her sons even if her middle child is 22ft taller than her. Bend down boy your mother wants to give you a forehead kiss. Skylight- Greaseball's older brother, an observation car, he has a hairstyle somewhat similar to Greaseball, just a bit more curly and kinda cloudlike. He bickered with Greaseball a lot when they were kids but he still loves em'. Poppy- The youngest brother out of the trio, and I mean youngest when I say youngest because as of the championship, he is literally only 18. He's a luggage van, has hair akin the Skylight's but it's less resemblant of a pompadour. Very bright and silly but also abuses his youngest sibling privileges to an annoying degree.

(Also these guys operate on my "trains are 11-40ft giants who work on the railways and while some have human comforts they are not human" logic, so keep that in mind if you do ask abt them)