#stex rant

[mango-dot-yum]

This is a follow-up on a post I made a bit ago after discussing it with my friend @141n3!

(original post here:)

My original post was mostly focused on how Greaseball is emotionally abusive to Dinah, but I didn’t mention how he is canonically physically abusive as well.

In That Was Cheating/There’s Me, Greaseball physically pushes Dinah to the ground. I cannot think of a version where Greaseball doesn’t do this(not saying there isn’t, just saying in most productions he does push her). As most people know, there is never a situation where it is okay to push your partner to the ground when you’re mad at them. And Dinah immediately apologizes, showing he’s done this before and that being physically abused is normal in their relationship.

In the OLC, the 2nd and 3rd class sleepers have this interaction with Dinah and Greaseball:

This is plain and simple. The sleepers(who I assume to be Dinah’s friends since all the coaches seem to be friends) mention how Greaseball beats Dinah. Why would they say this randomly, unless they have seen it happen, or Dinah has told them about it? And the fact Greaseball doesn’t say anything is odd if he isn’t actually doing anything. Greaseball clearly cares a lot about his image, it’s why he gets so mad when Electra steals his spotlight. Why wouldn’t he be like “I am not beating my girlfriend, I actually love her so much and she’s the coolest!” so the sleepers don’t go around spreading “rumors” that he beats her?

Also, there was a comment on the wiki from years ago which I want to talk about, because I want to talk about the fandom perception of Greaseball- specifically in relation to Dinah- and how it comes off as misogynistic, most of the time unintentionally.

Like I said, this was YEARS ago. While what this person said is problematic, don’t look for them on their social media platforms or anything. That’s not cool. People can change.

First off, they’re implying the sleepers only said this because they were jealous of Dinah and GB. This is something that is commonly said when women come out about abuse. “Oh, she’s saying (male celebrity) is abusive to (male celebrity’s wife)? She’s just mad that (male celebrity’s wife) is happier and richer than her, lol.” Everyone is a product of society, and society portrays this type of response as typical from women. That doesn’t make it okay, but I don’t think that(or the rest of this) was intentional

Secondly, I want to talk about the downplaying of abuse. “Could Greaseball have gotten a bit handsy with Dinah in an argument from time to time? Sure” “She fell, but it’s not like he grabbed her and YEETED her to the ground!” He does grab her and push her to the ground, but the phrasing here makes it seem like anyone who says that is dramatic. This also happens in real life with real abuse victims. “Y’all are so dramatic, (victim) had a little red mark for an hour or two after a tiny slap on the wrist, it’s not like (abuser) beat them until they’re black and blue!”

Portraying the fandom as the ones in the wrong was also a choice. Like I said, I was a lurker in the fandom for years so I didn’t actively engage in it. But from what I saw, people were downplaying Dinah’s abuse like people do now- even more so back then! Were there people mischaracterizing her? Absolutely. Does it mean Greaseball did nothing wrong? Absolutely not. Greaseball himself(and many other characters) see Dinah as a quivering, docile baby lamb which is part of abuse. Dinah does say things and gets shut down, yeah, but what does she do after she gets shut down? Does she stay with what she said? No. In That Was Cheating, she apologizes to Greaseball. After GB leaves her for Pearl, she gets mad at Pearl and cries to her friends. Her being shut down repeatedly and accepting it proves the abuse even more.

I don’t want to talk about the kink thing too much because I am a minor and I don’t want to shame people, but I do want to mention that this is what is said when a woman in relationship has bruises and is also known to have an aggressive partner. “(Guy) would never do that! She probably likes it and asks him to do it”

Now, how does this connect to the current Starlight Express fandom? Because people still refuse to admit Dinah is a victim. I have done this before myself, in a post I deleted because I realized that I shouldn’t have said that. “Ik they’re toxic, but they’re so cute!” Is it a crime to like a ship? No, but fiction DOES affect reality in many ways. If you turn a blind eye to abuse and misogyny in fiction, you eventually will in real life.

Part of this is because the show itself has made Greaseball less of a bad person over the years. I get why, you don’t want a terrible person who mostly still gets his way in the end in a musical meant for kids, but it does impact perception of him. If you see a bunch of content of and based on current Greaseball, you might start to attach his new character to his older one.

I don’t want to be overly negative, especially because a lot of people in this fandom that I have met are such kind, genuine people. But we all need to acknowledge our own biases towards racism, misogyny, and any form of bigotry in media to be better people. What we consume and how we consume it affects us.

(Note: this is NOT to hate on Greaseball introjects, fictionkins, or Greaseball fans. This was me having a good conversation with my friend about a character, and I also wanted to bring up how important the way we consume fiction is.)

[titularteazer]

Something i will never understand is people saying pearl only liked rusty after he won.

WERE YOU NOT THERE WHEN SHE SANG A WHOLE BALLAD ABOUT HIM THINKING HE LOST BECAUSE OF HER?????

Like think about the ship however you want but don’t go ruining my girl’s reputation like that

[xxcarnivalheartsxx]

I like both versions of starlight for different reasons but the wembley production is such a strange phenomenon because even though most of the characters are still there and relatively unchanged writing wise, they all feel completely separate from their original versions.

Even the characters that in theory have changed the least, like Dinah, who’s the same gender, and has kept the same songs, plot and lines, pretty much since the beginning, feel like completely different and new characters. Like, obviously there’s the massive changes in costumes, but the way she and others are portrayed is just so different from the way that the characters were originally written to be played that they feel like separate people with the same name. (This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just something I observed.)

And I also think that this really speaks to just how important casting and direction are in defining characters themselves. The chosen actor and the way they’re directed to play the character will always make a massive impact on how the character is received by the audience, no matter what the previously written lines are.

[condense-fanpage]

never getting over how much i love that in the wembly stex production control is a real living character and we actually get to see them onstage. it makes the idea that this is their dream feel so much more genuine. more importantly, even though control is only onstage for short bursts, it's so cute to see them actually interact and have a relationship with the trains without being treated differently at all.

also mama's actor also playing control's own mother makes me consider if this could actually be somewhat of a reflection of controls own life and the people around them (though obviously extreamly over-exaggerated)

[ruhrgoldie]

Hi wow I post again!! Wow.

TASSITA THE QUIET CAR WE CHEER!!

[to-dee-or-not-to-dee]

Shout out to the 2.5 Turnov fans, this one's for you 🙏

[dinahdoeeyes]

See, I'd like sapphic GreaseDinah if the shippers weren't insufferable about it.

If their negative opinions of Greaseball and GreaseDinah didn't suddenly do a 180 when Greaseball is a woman.

If they weren't saying "Dinah was a lesbian all along, every version of her!"

If they weren't acting like M/F GreaseDinah doesn't exist or is somehow inferior.

But, UNFORTUNATELY... 😒

[wonderful-magician]

StEx is making me feel really stressed lately, I don't feel safe sharing why as this site scares me sometimes. But I might need to take a small break from posting StEx even though it's still my fixation. I feel nauseous everyday and it's been happening for weeks. I don't know if anybody cares but I'm sorry :<

[wasianexpress]

hot take

I lowkey hate how the Wembley soundtrack got the movie musical editing

for context I’m talking about when the voices of main characters have noticeable auto tune but ensemble has little to none

it feels kinda uncanny valley idk if anyone else hears it bc I might just be picking up on it bc I listen to live recordings of other shows often

[loving-laurence]

Something that pisses me the hell off is that when there is someone who has done something awful but won't admit to it and keep crying victim. Like no! You aren't being abused! You're being held accountable for your actions and you refuse to take accountability.

You absolute narcissistic adshole can't admit you made minors uncomfortable at your grown age of 32. take some God damn accountability and act like an adult. Stop whining. You're not the victim you think you are. I'm not saying people can't have some behaviors because they faced abuse but that does not excuse any of your shit and you know it. Blatantly stealing shit from an ex friend of yours, made minors uncomfortable, claim minors are HURTING YOU because you can't handle accountability. You REFUSE to admit you've done something wrong and you know it.

You're more aware than you want to admit.

I'm 17 years of age and can at least admit when I've done something wrong. Quit hurting other people.

Over and out gang ✊✊

[gloriousfckingpurpose]

the absolute comedy that is all the stex villains in wembley now being stereotypes that historically piss conservatives off to no end

like we have

genderswapping the macho masculine guy into a lesbian with the worst mullet you’ve ever seen while keeping the personality and love interest

replacing a white male character with a new character played by a black woman

robot (basically) with blue hair and pronouns

and it’s fucking great lmao

[mango-dot-yum]

There’s been a lot of hate for more recent costumes in Starlight Express, and I think we all just need to appreciate that we no longer have these:

(This is hate, so if you like these costumes good for you but you probably won’t want to read the rest of this)

Duvay is the… least bad, but they may be because I have nothing else to compare her too. I don’t like the gray shoulder things because they just look off, but it could be worse.

And now, Dinah. Honestly, if I were Greaseball I’d leave her too, because what is that outfit?? The front panel of the skirt was removed, the doily was removed, and her leggings were removed. It looks wrong. And the skirt looks weird, too. Her having long sleeves and no leggings make her outfit look unbalanced, with way too much happening up top and basically nothing on the bottom half of her.

I don’t think the problem is even her not having leggings, Expresso Astral didn’t have leggings for her, and it looked fine. I think the problem is the combination of missing leggings and missing skirt parts.

Next up on my complaint list is Pearl. She looks like if a bootleg company made a doll of Pearl. It looks like comparing MLP toys to the show. What I mean to say is, you can tell it’s Pearl, but it doesn’t look like her. They remove the part over her bust that said “OBSERVATION” which, like, okay I guess? But that makes the thing around her neck look strange and like it wasn’t supposed to be there. It looks like they meant to remove that as well, but they forgot. The front panel of her skirt with the “PM” was removed, and the other panels became less pink. My biggest issue with this costume isn’t the costume itself, though, it’s something inconsequential: the wig.

In my opinion, Pearl’s wig is one of the most memorable parts of her costume- it’s why a lot of people don’t like 2018 revision Pearl. And this wig is just so… boring. It’s underwhelming and looks weird with the rest of the costume. I would say it’s because it’s blonde, but my favorite Pearl wig isn’t the typical pink/pink-white-

-so I can’t even say that. The it just doesn’t look like Pearl. The best part of Starlight Express costumes is that they’re flashy and pretty. If I saw someone wearing this wig in public I wouldn’t look twice.

And last(and most definitely least) ,Buffy. Poor, poor, Buffy. I love Buffy, she’s my second favorite coach. But this costume? It’s just so… I don’t even know what to say. She has a bare midriff, the chest box being reduced in size(probably to show more cleavage), but she does have the “napkins” tucked into her belt, which I do like. My main issue is the chest box. That has always been my favorite part of Buffy’s design, the details on it being fun to look at.

But this(as in the Las Vegas and tour costumes, not Bochum 1989 Buffy which was used as an example for the chest box) just looks tacky. Without prior knowledge, I wouldn’t be able to tell what it’s supposed to be, which I think is pretty bad because it’s the main part of her costume. It’s the part that makes it clear she’s a buffet car, without being able to tell what it is, she doesn’t look like Buffy.

I am not a puritan(or at least I hope I’m not), I don’t care about sexual costumes in musical theatre, I’m not trying to say the costumes are bad because they’re not covered head to toe. What I do have an issue with, though, is when sexuality becomes misogyny. Look at the other costumes for these tours/Las Vegas and you’ll see what I mean.

I think it was in bad taste how only the coaches lost significant portions of their costumes. If you’re going to make slutty costumes, make ALL the costumes slutty. Have Greaseball wear little shorts and a crop top or something, I don’t know. But I think it’s weird how only the coaches became more sexual. It’s not “empowering” it’s misogyny(in my opinion)

Anyways, sorry for my rant! I try and stay positive for the most part on here but ARGGH I HATE THESE COSTUMES😭😭

I genuinely did enjoy writing this because I love yapping about Starlight Express(even if it’s negative), so if anyone wants my opinions on specific things please ask me in my replies or my asks :D

[marastriker]

Genuinely, do not interact with me in the slightest if you like Kerk/GB/Golden Spike, if you're too blind and naive to see every single massively shitty thing they've done, you have no place on the internet to begin with. This isn't a debate. Stop enabling them.

[cbtheredcaboose-backup]

Mein Spiel in German always manages to confuse me a little and it’s so funny because this is literally my second langauge 😭

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Bochum production, but hearing “Vorwärts, rückwärts, Red Caboose.” manages to throw me off every time I hear it because like… Yes. I get it. YOURE RED CABOOSE it always throws me off pls give us CB back 😢

[stex-anon-confessions]

also sorry back for thirds but i think my endearment towards rusty also comes from the fact that i am Frequently Sad™ and i Do Not Believe In Myself™ but rusty would tell me that i can do it and its okay and things are gonna be alright ok seeya

- 👽

.

[xxcarnivalheartsxx]

It’s gotten to the point where the Stex fandom is starting to annoy me more and more so it’s cats fixation time