#thinking a lot about ruhrgold actually

[mysticalcats]

some doodles i never posted

(commissions are open <3)

[goblin-iz-whack]

fuck it

20. Turnov. Any genre/random. (Hes my favorite engine so sorry for asking for the maximum dhdhddjjf)

Putting some history into the lore here: Turnov and his dining car came to America some years before the Cold War started. Once everything went down, they weren't able to leave. They were passed around a few yards because they were champions and the humans wanted to make some money off of them. They ended up at Apollo Victoria for the events of the show and were promptly bought by Control.

Turnov's birth name is Maxim Kurnikovich Ivanov. He doesn't go by his birth name because when he was in training as a racer he was basically rebranded as Turnov.

A very very repressed gay man. He was uncomfortable at the idea of racing with a female coach but a male coach wasn't an option, so he races with his sister (A dining car named Paskha). He's honestly repressed in any and all sexual and/or romantic things, the thought of it stresses him out because he can't be himself.

Aside from his sister, he has a twin brother named Vladimir and parents named Anya and Kurnik, he hasn't seen the rest of them in many years.

Didn't speak much english when he initially came to America, still didn't speak very much when he got to Apollo Victoria, his sister spoke for him a lot. He learns english mainly from the other nationals, which leads to him saying a lot of non-American slang and sayings and everyone finds it funny.

He is very boring man- He doesn't have many hobbies and his favorite food is literally porridge.

His birth yard saw his bulk and separated him from his family. He was pretty badly mistreated there, by the trainfolk and conductors alike. This has led to him being quiet and stern with a deep fear of being seen as weaker (Don't ask why, let's just say he has some scars...).

I have him falling in love with Brexit 💕. Brex is small and kind, which contrasts well with Turnov and helps him heal.

He is unsure as to how old he is, he thinks he's somewhere in his 70s-80s maybe (trains age differently so he's not a super old man lol).

His hair is naturally very curly, but it's been shortened to a buzzcut for most of his life.

America didn't treat him very kindly either, he was subjected to a lot of crap. Apollo Victoria was the same in the beginning, he got called a Commie a lot. Greaseball was especially bad and has since apologized profusely.

I'd say he's about 6'2" with brunette hair and hazel eyes. He's also built like a brick wall.

Aggression issues to the max. The environment he grew up in has left him easily angered and riddled with anxieties. Too much stress and he will bite or punch and the victim will not be okay. He probably needs a muzzle tbh-

Doesn't actually enjoy drinking, it's just his preferred unhealthy coping mechanism.

Likes to be read to and enjoys violin music.

Got set up with a therapist right away-

He's closest with the rest of the nationals, as fellow champions they understand a lot of what he's gone through and they all support each other.

Bear hugs and head bumps are his forms of affection, he has knocked people over before-

Since Control bought him, he's been allowed to have actual fun and live life. His favorite activities are tea parties with Brexit and knitting with Ruhrgold. He also really likes naps (and dragging fellow nationals into napping with him-) because the man is tired, let him rest.

The coaches adore him for some unknown reason. The reason is that he's very genuine with them. Coaches often have to worry about how engines act with them, with all the competition and treating coaches like prizes to be won. Even engines not attracted to coaches will often act differently near them because of societal stuff. Turnov racing with a coach sister everywhere has given him a very relaxed and natural vibe when near coaches, which they appreciate. It's kind of a symbiotic deal: Turnov wards off bad engines and the coaches will commit murder if someone harms him-

[marastriker]

Can I have some headcanons about the National Engines?

Oh sure! There's a lot in existence but I'll go with the main ones we normally see.

Espresso was a theater kid and he absolutely still holds that dramatic flair to this day

Bobo has never eaten fast food in his life, meanwhile Coco was caught red handed with a baconater at 2am

Turnov looks a lot more intimidating than he actually is, the man just wants to kick back with a shot of vodka and share babushka's recipes

Ruhrgold has such dad energy and he makes the most groan worthy jokes

Hashamoto takes his training very seriously, hours of practice and meditation for a good headspace while Manga and Nintendo race more because they think it's fun

[bellesdomain]

Starlight Express 6.0 - Manga the Japanese Engine.

Top left - Manga and Carrie, Finale 2018.  Top right - Manga, Turnov and Ruhrgold, Finale 2018.

Bottom left - Original design, 1984.  Bottom centre - Hashamoto, Broadway 1987. Bottom Right - Hashamoto, Bochum 2015.

Now originally, back in 1984, John Napier used broad strokes to characterise the National Engines - whatever might work for the audience to recognise who’s who.  One of these features was playing on the “yellow skin” definition of people from eastern Asia.  It’s one of those racist stereotypes that was often used in a non-derogatory, general descriptive term (in the same breath as “Red Skin” being native Americans and “Black Skin” for Africans) but, also has plenty of history as a slur, and plenty of reason for people to take offence at the stereotype. 

So originally, the Japanese train was “the yellow one”.  The French train was “the blue one”, the Italian train was “the red one”... Not a lot of thought went into it, either from the design or the audience since each engine had a colour.  But, it seems to have occurred to someone that, when sending the show TO JAPAN, they might just want to alter what could be perceived as a derogatory design choice?  So, Hashamoto “stole” the colour blue from Bobo (resulting in the factually accurate and eye-searing orange TGV).  The German production was commissioned shortly after the Japan/Australia tour, so the costumes made in New York to be sent to Germany were duplicates of those made for Japan. This meant that Hashamoto was always blue in Germany, despite his original design calling for him to be yellow.

When we saw the re-designed female French Engine, Coco, primarily in Blue, the fans guessed that this meant the Japanese Engine would be yellow. With quite some face-palming about re-inforcing outdated racist stereotypes...  but actually, the end result is a lot more pleasant than it could have been.  Yes he has yellow accents, but he is predominantly silver. His costume appears to be an exact re-colour of the older Hashamoto costume, no elements appear to have changed.

But the name... MANGA?  REALLY?  I can’t decide if it’s worse or not than “Nintendo”.  It’s the awkward uncle desperately trying to look “cool” by throwing around words he’s sure “kids these days think are rad”.  Who’s the target audience for this name change?   Anyone who likes and reads manga will cringe in embarrassment at this lazy use of a random Japanese term.  Anyone who has no interest in manga will simply recognise it as a Japanese word - and as such will be equally satisfied with “Hashamoto” as the character’s name.  Or, one could almost, these days, ask them to go as far as fact checking and finding out it’s actually spelled “Hashimoto”...

Also they missed an opportunity to vastly improve the whole revamp -  had the Japanese train also been made a female role, that would destroy the “tokenism” of the whole exercise.  As it stands we have one female character in each of the previously all-male groups - “This one’s a GIRL!”  Were two of the six National Engines female, it would normalise the gender mix in a way to tokenism absolutely fails to do.  Although, if they had, you know we’d have got a “Sailor Moon Train” design... cos so totally modern.