Infinity Train

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Name: Infinity Train
Abbreviation(s): IT
Creator: Owen Dennis
Date(s): November 1, 2016 (pilot)

August 5, 2019-August 9, 2019 (Book One)
January 6, 2020-January 10, 2020 (Book Two)
August 13, 2020-August 27, 2020 (Book Three)

April 15, 2021 (Book Four)
Medium: television, cartoon
Country of Origin: USA
External Links: Wikipedia
Infinity Train Wiki
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Spoiler Warning: This article or section may contain spoilers. If this bothers you, proceed with caution.

Infinity Train is an animated sci-fi anthology series that aired on Cartoon Network and HBO Max.

Canon

The series is divided into four seasons called "books", each with an accompanying subtitle: Book One is The Perennial Child, Book Two is Cracked Reflection, Book Three is Cult of the Conductor, and Book Four is Duet.

Set on a seemingly endless train traveling through a barren landscape, the cars of the train contain a variety of bizarre and fantastical environments. The passengers on the train are people it picks up who have unresolved emotional issues or trauma. As they travel through the train's cars, their adventures inside them give them the opportunity to confront and resolve their emotional problems, represented by a glowing number on their hand that goes down as they confront these issues. Once they resolve their issues and their number reaches zero, a portal opens and they are able to leave the train and return home.

Book One focuses on Tulip Olsen, a girl struggling with her parents' recent divorce. She is accompanied by a small, confused robot named "One-One", and Atticus, the ruler of a kingdom of talking corgis. She eventually uncovers many of the train's secrets and confronts Amelia, a passenger who, instead of resolving her trauma from her husband's death, has usurped the role of Conductor from One-One and tried to take control of the train. Before leaving the train, Tulip persuades Amelia to try to adapt to the changes in her life.

In one episode of Book One, Tulip frees her own reflection from the mirror world, and the two part ways. Book Two focuses on the emancipated Mirror Tulip ("MT"), now on the run from enforcers attempting to execute her as punishment for abandoning her role as Tulip's reflection. She teams up with Jesse, a new train passenger, as well as Alan Dracula, a silent deer with a variety of powers. She helps Jesse leave the train by helping him learn to stand up for himself, and he returns to the train to help her escape to the outside world, as well. MT changes her name to Lake in the closing moments of the season.

Book Three centers on Grace and Simon, the leaders of a gang of rogue passengers who vandalize the train and assault its denizens to keep their numbers high. Their travels with a young girl named Hazel and her gorilla friend, Tuba, make Grace more sympathetic to the train's denizens. After Simon kills Tuba, it is revealed that Hazel herself is one of Amelia's creations, and Grace realizes what she thought she knew about the train is wrong. After fighting off Simon's attempt to usurp control, Grace begins facing up to and mending her mistakes.

Set decades earlier, during the period while Amelia is establishing control over the train, Book Four centers on Ryan and Min-Gi, two best friends who want to become famous musicians. Their relationship is strained due to Ryan's brashness and Min-Gi's fear of the future. While on the train, they meet a talking service bell named Kez who has trouble owning up to her mistakes. Ryan and Min-Gi come to realize that they need each other in order for them to move forward in life, while Kez finally apologizes to other train denizens she harmed.

Characters

Main

  • Tulip Olsen - protagonist of Book One: The Perennial Child who is analytical, down-to-earth, and determined to get off the train.
  • Lake (previously MT) - protagonist of Book Two: Cracked Reflection who escaped the mirror world with help from her prime, Tulip. She is more short-tempered compared to her prime, since she lives as a fugitive from the mirror world.
  • Jesse Cosay - deuteragonist of Book Two: Cracked Reflection who is friendly but struggles with peer pressure.
  • Grace Monroe - leader of The Apex--a group of mostly young passengers with extremely high numbers--secondary antagonist of Book Two and protagonist of Book Three: Cult of the Conductor.
  • Simon Laurent - Grace's second-in-command of The Apex, secondary antagonist of Book Two and initially the co-protagonist of Book Three: Cult of the Conductor before becoming the main antagonist and tragic villain.
  • Hazel - co-protagonist of Book Three: Cult of the Conductor who is fun-loving, optimistic, and extremely mischievous.
  • Ryan Akagi - co-protagonist of Book Four: Duet who shares his number with Min-Gi and tends to make rash decisions.
  • Min-Gi Park - co-protagonist of Book Four: Duet who shares his number with Ryan and is hesitant to pursue his dreams.

Supporting

  • One-One - A ball-shaped robot consisting of two opposite halves: Glad-One and Sad-One. He is Tulip's denizen partner and the true conductor of the Infinity Train
  • Atticus - a Cardigan Welsh Corginian Corgi, king of Corginia and Tulip's denizen partner alongside One-One
  • Samantha ("The Cat") - a con artist who travels around various train cars
  • Randall - A blob of water who can split himself into multiple "people". He easily falls for The Cat's scheme of selling "donut holers" which are just pipes
  • Alan Dracula - a shapeshifting non-sapient deer and was Jesse and Lake's denizen partner
  • Tuba - A purple gorilla with two tubas wrapped around her arms and was Hazel's protective partner.
  • Kez - A floating concierge bell and was Ryan and Min-Gi's denizen partner. Kind and helpful, but also dismissive of the problems she creates

Antagonists

  • Amelia Hughes ("The (False) Conductor") - took over the Infinity Train for thirty-three years as "conductor" before One-One, Atticus, and Tulip came in
  • Mace and Sieve - two "Flecs" (Reflection Police) who chase down Lake for breaking mirror world law

Fandom

The content the fandom produces can easily be divided into two broad categories: continuations/expansions of canon and crossovers.

Terminology

Tropes and Fanon

  • Characters' lives after leaving the Infinity Train, since the stories in canon are restricted to only ten episodes per season.
  • Fan seasons which feature original characters and different cars from the canon show. The Sun Will Come Up and the Seasons will Change is the codifier of this trope/fanon.
  • Crossovers and fusions putting characters from other fictional works into the titular train, as either passengers, train denizens, or even having entire train cars dedicated to/referencing another source medium (e.g. Silent Hill and Kingdom Hearts)
  • Lake is often interpreted as being a transmasculine or nonbinary person,[1] a reading many consider to be backed up by Word of God[2], so fanworks often use they/them pronouns to reflect that.

Alternate Universes

  • Canon Divergence AU
    • A main character who canonically got off the train joins the Apex instead (e.g. Tulip, Jesse)
    • Simon doesn't kill Tuba and has a redemption arc
  • Role swaps between different characters of each "book", usually in pairs (e.g. swapping Tulip and Mikayla—a minor character from before Tulip gets on the titular train—with Ryan and Min-Gi)

Crossovers

Many crossover fanworks involve characters from other fictional media facing their issues and traumas on the train. See Fanworks for examples.

Shipping

Popular ships include:

Popular crossover ships include:

Fannish Involvement

#FinishInfinityTrain

#FinishInfinityTrain was a hashtag created on Twitter to protest the cancellation of the show due to the planned fifth season/movie (which would have focused on Amelia) lacking a "child entry point".[3] After trending on April 29, 2021, creator Owen Dennis posted a mock-up image for the planned Book Five. [4]

Fan Events

Notable Fanworks

Fanart

Fanfic

  • Infinity Train FANFIC by SirSpoder - Heavily deviates from canon since at the time it was written, only the pilot existed.
  • Collated Accounts of the Infinity Train: A summary by Timeline15 - "Written in the style of a scientific paper," details the train's appearances throughout history. Canon Divergent.
  • The Sun Will Come Up And the Seasons Will Change by Juliko/SaoirseParisa/Firechick. A fan season based on the original character Mary Summers, a 9-year-old autistic girl who boards the train after finding out the extent of her abusive mother's hatred. The fanfic is unique due to codifying the fanseason trope, featuring a second plot about Mary's family and friends reacting to her disappearance, and its themes about autistic identity and autonomy.

Fanvids

Crossovers

Meta & Further Reading

Resources & Communities

References

  1. ^ Lake (infinity train) being trans for 16min
  2. ^ Reading as a Lake trans character posted by u/Example-exe to the InfinityTrain subreddit
  3. ^ I am Owen Dennis, creator of Infinity Train on HBOMax which just released it's 4th and final season today! AMA! : InfinityTrain (Accessed 23 July 2021)
  4. ^ Frogs in hats on Twitter: "Here's the mock up I made for season 5/the movie for #InfinityTrainHBOMax. Something I'm still hoping can be made! https://t.co/cL6lu6s1C5" / Twitter (Accessed 23 July 2021)
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