#itsamatterofwhen

[hydrogentruck]

HYDRA'S BACKSTORY

this took forever to write, enjoy!

(Before the actual backstory, just some of my headcanon stuff to make things...make sense. Humans exist in the StEx world. Outside of work and factory built trains, humans and trains don't really interact much. Parent built trains come child sized, while trains built in factories usually look about late teens/early twenties. Prototypes can be built as either.

Trains are considerably larger than humans, the average height for an adult non-locomotive being 8'5. Engines are much taller on average. Freights tend to be bigger than coaches, but it largerly depends on the kind of car. A double decker passenger car is gonna be bigger than a flatcar, but a coal truck is gonna be bigger than a dining car. Blah blah blah enough about height.

Trainlets aren't built baby sized, usually being around the size of a five year old human kid when first powered on (if we ignore Juniper of course. Sorry baby, you are an enigma appearantly.) Trainlets grow of course, and they have to eat metal to do so. Thin sheet metal can be bought and manually cut up, or you can buy it precut to make it easier to eat. Once they reach full size, they don't have to eat it as much, but trains still need to eat metal once in a while for self-repair systems to work. Without it, they would be in the repair shed over a papercut.)

Hydra was built on September 20th, 2011 by a company called Alstom in Salzgitter, Germany. He's based off a DOT-113C120 tank car.

He was built specifically for hydrogen, and part of a test to see if cryogenic tankers could be built trainlet sized, up to that point they had only been built in factories due to their explosive nature. He was the sixth iteration, with five other failed prototypes before him. Prototypes are typically built a big bigger than most trainlets, or not built as trainlets at all because growth can skew data and mess with delicate parts.

The first big malfunction Hydra had was actually just growing. The researchers never really figured out why, they theorzied it was because he built a little larger than most trainlets and his programming wasn't updated properly before being powered on. But they started growing way too fast. Whether it was overlooked while he was built or simply forgotten, cryogenic tankers like Hydra are much larger compared to other trucks. Instead of growing at a slow, steady pace, they were growing in random bursts, stopping for a day or two, and rapidly growing again. And he was growing a lot. Based on growth patterns, Hydras body was trying to go from 6'1 to 8'9 in six months. you've had growing pains, imagine that times ten, for hours at a time. Also, you're hungry the whole time.

It messed with basically everything, namely their appetite. Starlight bless the other trains in charge of taking care of them, because he was unreasonably ravenous for a month old trainlet. Yes, he bit.

Researchers eventually got it under control, managing to fix their programming error within a month. But being rapidly stretched like that really messed up some of his more delicate components. Paired with his already messy blueprints, it's why they gets so many problems.

For the first few years in the lab, things were....pretty nice actually. Testing was never fun, but the researchers were nice and always gave him books and stuff after, so he started looking forward to it. They'd teach him about what they were fixing and what it did. By the time he was two, he had a pretty clear map of his own anatomy just from that.

Hydra spent most of their time with the researchers, but they did have a "mother." An electric engine named Blue, who was built by the same company. The researchers decided that he needed another actual train in his life to be around regularly...and they also didn't wanna deal with teaching him train stuff. Like how to skate properly. Hydra was probably too attached to Blue for his own good, but she was always nice to him.

When Hydra turned five (about ten physically and mentally, train age is weird because no baby stage.) A new researcher started working at the lab, Dr. Grove. He was not very nice to Hydra, seeing them as more of some scientific marvel than a kid. The other researchers weren't fond of him and his...methods, but management quickly realized that being less "nice" with the experiments (more invasive and destructive testing) got more results quicker, and they needed results. Dr. Grove quickly took over the project, and that's when things started getting bad. Most of the previous researchers were moved to different projects, and before he knew it, Hydra was basically surrounded by unfamiliar people who wanted to know everything about how their body worked, and what made it stop working specifically.

Hydra stopped looking forward to the testing. It was painful, and took hours, sometimes days. The scientists would purposefully make his tank blow just to see what conditions made them more likely to explode, see what extended periods of time with an empty tank did to his system, fatigue testing on his frame, etc. Hydra knows that it was necessary, and that they would have to do it one way or another, but the researchers really could have tried to make it more comfortable. Or at least waited until they were, yknow, older. The researchers barely called them by their name either. Half the time he was called either "603" or just "03."

Hydra started being treated less like a person. He started seeing Blue less and less because he started being scheduled for more and more tests. This quickly took a toll on them, and they started being a lot less energetic and outgoing, being really reclusive and absolutely freaking out if he got touched. If it wasn't those few visits with Blue, Hydra would have been a lot more scarred from the testing.

Six months before the lab closed down, when Hydra was seven (about 12 in human years) Blue was fired from her position. Dr. Grove said she was making Hydra "too emotional and too dependent."

This part Hydra doesn't know, but around this time, someone tipped off corporate about Dr. Grove's treatment of the prototypes. This person was Blue.

An investigation was launched, and not just Dr. Grove was fired, the entire lab was shut down. They had broken many regulations, some that Blue didn't even know about. The oversight of Hydras rapid growth, beginning testing too early, lack of mental care, just to name a few. The news had already gone public, and the parent company didn't want the association anymore. The prototypes the lab had built were either sent off to different labs, or if they were in good enough condition, sent to actual yards with periodic check ups to make sure they remain in working conditon.

Hydra was one of the trains deemed fit to go to an actual yard. Corporate had reached out to a yard looking for new freights, leading them to Momma, who cannot seem to stop adopting stray freights. She agreed to take him, and Hydra was set to be sent off to Wembley. The new yard was in a whole different country of course, and he barely spoke english at the time, so they were rightfully terrified. But at least they didn't have to be at the lab anymore.

After Hydra started living at the yard, he was almost immediately put in therapy for a while, which did help. But even to this day, some stuff from the lab has still stuck with them. One of the bigger things is he's absolutely petrified of needles, they haven't been able to get a shot without having a full blown panic attack in years.

Being anywhere around the back of their neck is total no-no as well. On the back of his neck, just below his hair, Hydra has an extra panel that contains a few ports connected to his main computers, and a button that will quite literally shut down all his systems if pressed. Effectively knocking him out cold until it's pressed again.

Most prototypes have it, and it's removed before they start working for obvious safety reasons. It exists because prototypes need a lot of work and repairs, why waste the money on anesthesia? But corporate was in such a rush to get the lab closed, it was basically forgotten, which means he still has it. Nobody but Momma is aware of it.

The lab was an absolute shitshow, but sometimes Hydra does miss it. He misses not having to worry about the cost of repairs, he misses the old researchers, but most of all he misses Blue. In recent years, they've tried finding her, but so far he's been unsuccessful. Maybe one day though.

[dinah4diesel]

Hey Dinah?

Have you seen Tassita anywhere? I've been looking for him.

✮ @itsamatterofwhen

I don't think I have, I'm sorry, love. I've been quite busy with Greaseball lately.. maybe ask Belle?

[eepsterbelle]

Hey, Belle...? Belle!

[hydra claps to wake her up]

✮ @itsamatterofwhen

[Belle snaps awake in Panic]

Wait- Huh?!

[hydrogentruck]

《◇ HY-DRO-GEN ◇》

Rp/Ask blog of Hydra the Hydrogen Truck from Starlight Express.

IT'S NOT A MATTER OF IF,

IT'S A MATTER OF WHEN!

•.◇ He/They. Pansexual and Poly

•.◇ Asks open and encouraged! Dms are also open, I love making new friends!

•.◇ Will use // when ooc

•.◇ Run by @marbles404 (she/he) I am a minor! But I'm not that young.

•.◇ Headcanons (6/24)

TAGS

ic posts ➷ #hydrogenyaps

ic asks ➷ #itsnotamatterofif

ooc posts ➷ #itsamatterofwhen

[hydrogentruck]

INTRO

"It's not a matter of if,"

"It's a matter of when!"

✶ - He/Him | Bisexual, Poly (she/they ooc)

✶ - Not affiliated with Starlight Express, just a parody.

✶ - Open to all productions and OCS!

✶ - Ran by a minor, but I am not that young. Please do not baby me!

✶ - Asks and anon asks open!

✶ - Will use "//" when ooc

✶ - Headcanons! last updated: 17/4/25

✶ - Run by @marbles404

TAGS

IC posts: #hydrogenyaps

IC asks: #itsnotamatterofif

OOC posts: #itsamatterofwhen

[hydrogentruck]

Headcanons!

✶ - Youngest out of the freights. Insane youngest sibling energy

✶ - Just a little bit immature

✶ - ADHD

✶ - Built in a testing facility and stayed there until he was about 10, so he didn't exactly have a fun childhood or actual parents before he showed up at the yard and Momma basically adopted him.

✶ - Prone to exploding when he gets super overwhelmed or stressed, but (usually) passes out before that point.

✶ - Very passionate about the environment to a concerning extent.

✶ - Really likes bugs, owns quite a few. Tarantulas, scorpions, millipedes, that kind of stuff.

✶ - Sensory issues, will literally tear his eyes out if he has to hear someone chew with their mouth open.

✶ - Technically just a prototype, so he gets problems and system issues a lot. Almost constantly has something bothering him.

✶ - Owns a lot of stuffed animals, and they all have names.

✶ - As a result of his upbringing, Hydra is absolutely terrified of needles.

✶ - Hydra is German. His accent isn't super thick, but it was borderline incomprehensible when he was a kid because he wasn't fluent in English yet when he left the lab.

✶ - When he first came to the yard, he could barely hold a conversation with Porter because literally neither of them could understand the others accent. Yes it was funny to watch them try to talk.

Will add more as time goes on!

[hydrogentruck]

《○ 𝙷𝚢𝚍𝚛𝚊...𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎? ○》

Why this keeps happening, who knows? But Hydra is now...a child. Around the same age he was when he first got to the yard (12.) Absolutely no idea who anyone is, and way too excited about everything. Have fun! (This doesn't apply to threads that are already going!)

Normal intro here (X)

TAGS

Little Hydra posts ➷ #ittybitty

Little Hydra asks ➷ #askthelabrat

[hydrogentruck]

" I've power to spare, "

" This steam is lighter than air! "

Last updated June 24th.

HEADCANONS

•.◇ Hydra is very emotionally immature. It's something he's been working on, but he hates how shit he is at regulating his emotions. Half the time he doesn't even realize he's doing it.

•.◇ Autism and ADHD.

•.◇ Big fan of bugs. Owns a couple tarantulas and a scorpion...much to the dismay of the other freights.

•.◇ Terrified of needles. Will downright refuse to have a shot if it's not incredibly necessary, and even that can't happen without a panic attack.

•.◇ Hates having his hair and the back of his neck touched. Most prototypes have a switch somewhere to completely power them off, which makes long tests and repairs easy. At the lab, the switch was used...probably used more than necessary when he wouldn't comply, its on the back of his neck. Nobody but Momma knows about it.

•.◇ Originally built in Germany. Has basically lost the accent, but was downright unintelligible when they first got the yard. Think those "no little german boy no!" videos...That's what they sounded like.

•.◇ Very, very passionate about the environment. He writes down the times he sees trees starting to bud every year, and goes on hour long rants about climate change if they bloom too early.

•.◇ Can't properly sleep without this giant stuffed sea turtle named Tim Johnson, a weighted blanket, and some form of white noise. They'll take a 20 minute power nap just about anywhere, but they need all that stuff for a full eight hours.

•.◇ Hydra is huge. They're 6'3 (compared to the other freights, he's actually about 8'8 next to humans), and generally bulky. All that freezer equipment and insulation needs a lot of room. Despite that, he's basically harmless. They let Slick bully them, and he's nearly twice her size.

•.◇ Looks like an actual glowstick with the lights off. His cooling fluid has neon in it, which makes his exposed pipes glow.

•.◇ Gets dreams of the Starlight on occasion. It's one of the reasons why he decided to partner with Rusty after the crash.

[hydrogentruck]

totallyyyyyy not stealing this idea from @/ask-slick and @/thatsmy-role and adding one silly little headcanon for every note this gets because...I have a lot of headcanons

Just to start,

✶ Hydra absolutely cannot stand anything mushy. Applesauce, jello, pudding, he hates it. If he can't chew it, he will not eat it.

✶ Hydra's model number is 603, it's painted on his arms and on the back of his neck, and he will genuinely start crying if he gets called that, or any variation of it.

✶ He sleeps a concerning amount. Standing up half the time too. (hc that the freights can stand sleeping up because it makes sense in my head ok.)

✶ When he was a trainlet, Hydra had a really odd habit of eating baking ingredients. He could not grasp the concept that everything that goes into the good tasting thing does not also taste good.

✶ Hydra hates having his hair and his neck (especially the back of it) touched. He will freak.

✶ Hydra is constantly hungry. He eats like, twice as much as the other freights because he has so much more stuff to power.

✶ Despite being in a relationship, Hydra still has the biggest, fattest, stupidest crush on Rusty. This could be a problem.

[hydrogentruck]

beep beep im a sheep!

ts pmo. atp js go vro🥀🥀🥀

[hydrogentruck]

//not gonna be able to respond to anything for a few hours because I'm gonna be on a plane😭🙏

[hydrogentruck]

//NO IM NOT?????

//what is with the bots oh my LORD

[hydrogentruck]

//chat I'm bored, send me some asks RAHH

[hydrogentruck]

//ouggghhh...plane again, won't be able to respond to anything for a while in a little bit