Midnight Express (RID)

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This article is about the Robots in Disguise Autobot. For the Universe Micromaster Railbot, see Midnight Express (Universe){{#switch:{{#sub:Midnight Express (Universe)|-1}} != .= ?= .

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Midnight Express is an Autobot originally from the Robots in Disguise continuity family.
Yes, he has legs, and yes, he knows how to use them.

Midnight Express is a member of Team Bullet Train, a trio of Autobots who patrol the railways. Fussy and easily flustered, he has a habit of getting lost and separated from his fellow trains. Of the three members of his team, he has the most empathy with other trains, often treating them as sentient entities even when it's clear they're not.

Fiction

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Cartoon continuity

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2001 Robots in Disguise cartoon

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Voice actor: David Lodge (English), Naomi Matamura (Japanese){{#if: Vladimir Gerasimov (Russian), Leonardo García (Latin-American Spanish), Lee Yoon-sun (Korean), Romeu D'Angelo (Portuguese)|, Vladimir Gerasimov (Russian), Leonardo García (Latin-American Spanish), Lee Yoon-sun (Korean), Romeu D'Angelo (Portuguese)}}
Joey, have you ever been in a Turkish prison?

When Team Bullet Train was called in to help protect the Linear RFG, Midnight Express was at a location eight hours away, about to haul a private wedding party. Rapid Run was not impressed with his plan to slow the bullet train by coating the tracks with glue, but the team was able to link up and stop the train before it plunged over a bridge destroyed by the Predacons. They then merged into Rail Racer in order to see the Predacons off. Bullet Train to the Rescue

The team was called into Metro City to thwart another attack on the part of Megatron and his Predacons. Negotiating the city streets was not easy for the large Bullet Trains, and at one point Midnight Express started down the wrong street. After a pitched battle with the Predacons, the team merged into Rail Racer and chased them off. Although as it turned out, the attack was a diversion while Sky-Byte investigated some important ruins. The Secret of the Ruins

Such villainous nonsense.

Midnight Express seemed to believe that "Grandpa", a steam train which the Autobots were protecting, was somehow alive; he referred to it as "he", admonished Rapid Run for calling it an old crate and claimed the steam train was mad at the insults of the other bullet trains. When Slapper attempted to commandeer the steam engine, Midnight Express knocked him off and beat him to the ground. You do not want to get Midnight Express angry. After Grandpa dropped off his passengers, the Predacons hijacked him and Midnight Express set off in pursuit, continuing to plead with Grandpa to put on the brakes. He followed the old steam engine off a cliff into the ocean, hauling it out of the sea and out of Megatron's clutches. Secret Weapon: D-5

Midnight Express and the rest of team Bullet Train was standing idle at Autobot headquarters when Koji voiced his concern that the Predacons would attempt to steal the world's largest ruby, currently on display in the city. Mirage's Betrayal

Team Bullet Train helped to try to track down Skid-Z after the Autobot scanned a racing car and was possessed by an urge to engage in races. They entered the Great Race, but were halted partway by a rock slide they were unable to pass. Skid Z's Choice

Where's Jim Cornette when you need him?

Called in to help scare the Predacons away from the Cave of the Dragon, Midnight Express provided the lower half of a statue to Optimus Prime's upper half. It did not go well—Midnight Express overbalanced and brought the guise crashing to the ground, but the Predacons were able to be frightened off anyway. The Ultimate Robot Warrior

After practising their link-up manoeuvre, Team Bullet Train returned to the Autobot base to review footage of previous adventures in an attempt to find the Predacon base. Hope for the Future Following the creation of the Decepticons by Megatron, the team was sent to Sherman Dam, where they combined into Rail Racer and fought Ruination. Commandos They would subsequently spend a lot of time using the Global Space Bridge to arrive at locations under attack from the Decepticons and fight them off, often forming Rail Racer to do so. Such as the instance when they arrived at Pier 7B just in time to dissuade the Decepticons from taking on the Autobots, after they had rampaged across the countryside following Side Burn. Attack from Outer Space

With the Autobot Brothers having been “duped” by Sky-Byte to go to the Bayshore power plant while the Decepticons attacked the Crestline power plant instead, it was up to Team Bullet Train to take on Scourge and the Commandos. Midnight Express, Railspaike and Rapid Run combined into Rail Racer shortly after their arrival at the plant, and drove off the aggressors. The Fish Test

The Autobots' ability to get to remote locations quickly did not go unnoticed by the Decepticons, who managed to sabotage the space bridge, depositing Team Bullet Train on a busy motorway. Midnight Express was terribly unsettled. A second attempt to use the space bridge left him dizzily trapped in a loop. Once the space bridge was repaired, the three bullet trains arrived at the North Energy Research Facility and prepared to form Rail Racer. They were stopped by Wedge, who asked them to let the Build Team defeat Megatron as a matter of honour. Landfill

In between all their adventures, the Autobots still had to perform some of the more menial tasks, such as regularly testing out the global space bridge. Lessons of the Past

On another occasion, the team formed Rail Racer to prevent the Decepticons stealing some energy, and kept Ruination busy while the Build Team recovered the stolen energy. A Test of Metal They were also sent looking for the Autobot Brothers, who had disappeared while tracking Ultra Magnus, a recent arrival to Earth. They were approached by Magnus himself, who informed them that Optimus was being led into a trap, and the three trains rushed to help the Autobot leader. The Two Faces of Ultra Magnus

Hey, a Mini-Con!

When the Autobots were on the verge of locating Fortress Maximus, Team Bullet Train were dispatched to the location under Metro City to protect the Build Team. Midnight Express became disoriented in the maze of tunnels, only being reunited with the other Bullet Trains when he was swept along by flood-waters released by Ultra Magnus. The trio were carried to the cavern where Maximus was located and formed Rail Racer to defend the giant robot from the Decepticons, and subsequently draw them away from where the Build Team were trying to hide him. Fortress Maximus Koji Gets His Wish

Team Bullet Train also attempted to defend Maximus from the Decepticons once his location was exposed. Scourge managed to successfully activate Maximus, but proved unable to control him. Maximus Emerges When Scourge magnified the human portion of his bio-signature in another attempt to control Maximus, Team Bullet Train was sent into the desert with Build Team and a thousand children to halt the titan. The Human Element

Gathering at a predetermined location, the Bullet Trains and the rest of the Autobots ambushed the Decepticon forces. The team combined into Rail Racer to fight Galvatron's Megastar, but the battle station was eventually felled by Fortress Maximus. Surprise Attack! After Galvatron used cyber-bats to gain control of the world's children, the Autobots were forced to retreat into the space bridge and were followed by the Decepticons. Midnight Express attempted unsuccessfully to execute a speed turn in order to face the enemy. Galvatron ruptured the tunnel during the battle which followed, flooding it with molten lava which the Autobots were only narrowly able to escape. They were promptly seized by a powered-up Galvatron. Galvatron's Revenge Team Bullet Train reformed Rail Racer in order to protect Optimus Prime, and were subsequently held in a paralysed state by Galvatron until the Decepticon leader's defeat at the hands of Omega Prime. The Final Battle

Dreamwave Robots in Disguise comic

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Combined into Rail Racer, Midnight Express was off on a mission that had the Autobots' forces spread thin. Ultra Magnus...to the Rescue?

Legends comic

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The events of the Robots in Disguise cartoon occur in Japanese continuity as noted above, except that they take place in the world of the original Generation 1 cartoon where the Transformer cast are time travelers from the Beast Era to Tokyo in the year 2000{{#if:|, and is}}{{#if:| a character separate from }}{{#if:| named ""}}.

As a member of the Dimensional Patrol, Midnight Express was brought to the Legends World by Skids and Sky-Byte to defend it against the attack of Majin Zarak and the Zamojin. Targetmaster Chapter Finale: Legends World in Imminent Danger! Part One

As part of Rail Racer, Midnight Express's adventures with the Dimensional Patrol continued under the command of Devil God Fire Convoy. Epiloge

Ask Vector Prime

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In several realities such as Viron 704.31 Epsilon, Midnight Express was brainwashed by using the Robo-Smasher and reformatted into Loco. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/09/13

2005 IDW continuity

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First appearance: Optimus Prime #1
He took the midnight express going anywhere...

Hailing from Caminus, Midnight Express was a devout Cybertronian whose religion revered the Thirteen. Spurred on by his planet's recent deification of Optimus Prime, Midnight Express travelled to Earth after the defeat of Baron Karza to join the Autobots. To Walk Among the Chosen The formation of the Council of Worlds had allowed for his impoverished homeworld to receive the aid and support that it had gravely required, and as a result Midnight Express had privately come to believe that Caminus and the other Transformer colonies no longer required the support of their ruined ancestral homeworld. Primeless, Part 1 Like the other colonists that had travelled to Earth to be close to the sacred Prime, Midnight Express modified his own face with a mouthplate to better emulate Optimus Prime.

On one of their first missions, the new recruits were sent to Mexico City with Aileron, to uphold the Tyrest Accord by tracking down a cache of illegal Cybertronian weaponry. Their presence provoked an anti-Transformer protest that soon degenerated into a riot; as the Autobots transformed to perform crowd control, Midnight Express was shot by a human protester wielding one of the weapons they had been sent to find. Optimus deployed reinforcements from Autobot City while Arcee helped evacuate him. Back aboard Metrotitan, Aileron and Jetfire tended to his injuries. To Walk Among the Chosen

Midnight Express made a full recovery in time to attend Optimus Prime's first diplomatic meeting with the Junkion leaders Wreck-Gar and Rum-Maj. A Lonely Pillar on the Plain He knelt by the space bridge with his teammates as Optimus returned to Earth from Cybertron, and watched Optimus argue with Pyra Magna about Prime's agnosticism. The Earth-bound Transformers later attended Optimus Prime's summit, held for the benefit of several human leaders, which was interrupted by a Sharkticon attack on the part of the Junkions. Dance Among the Shadows Midnight Express fought to keep the Junkion forces away from the human dignitaries, battling alongside Roulette and Slide. Future Glories Lost

When Optimus Prime brokered a new peace between the Cybertronians and Junkions, Midnight Express and the other Autobots relocated to the Bikini Atoll to help the Junkions build a refugee colony for themselves. Feel Safe Without Regrets As work continued, the colonists attended Oiler's funeral. Midnight Express attempted to offer some words of comfort to Oiler's sister Slide, but she angrily brushed off his attempts to console her. The Next Day, and the Next

A few days later, the colonists were growing bored with life on the island. After an evening's work, Midnight Express and the colonists drove off to hang out on the beach, blowing off the Junkion representative they'd been working with and leaving Slide, who could no longer transform, behind. What It's Really Like

As Optimus Prime and his inner retinue travelled to Cybertron to commemorate Earth officially joining the Council, the ceremony was interrupted by Baron Ironblood's attack on Iacon, deactivating the space bridge and cutting Earth off from Cybertron. In the chaos, Aileron took charge and brought the colonist soldiers with her on a mission to find Jazz. The team tracked him to Oaxaca, where they encountered more humans wielding Cybertronian weapons. Retreating to the city outskirts to regroup, Midnight Express watched Aileron argue with Slide, the latter having grown disillusioned with Optimus's leadership. The group headed north, and as they drove the colonists began coming around to Slide's way of thinking. As Midnight Express wondered why Jazz couldn't take care of himself, an explosion alerted them to Jazz, under fire by more humans. Primeless, Part 1

Every 90 minutes, someone in this country is hit by a train. A train, okay? Trains are on tracks. They can't come and get you. They can't surprise you when you step off a curb. You have to go to them. Got that?

In the ensuing confrontation, Midnight Express used his locomotive mode to run one of the human's vehicles off the road. The timely arrival of the colonists forced the humans to retreat except for Mateo Chavez, who with some intimidation, was able to arrange a meeting with his "suppliers" in a nearby ghost town. The perpetrators were soon unmasked as the Decepticons Frenzy and Rumble, who had been conducting a gunrunning trade for months in the hopes of making a fast buck. The Autobots took custody of the guns and loaded them into a train car for Midnight Express to tow away. Though Gimlet was all to eager to throw the two 'Cons behind bars, Aileron realized that any further actions would jeopardize an already fragile political situation and they would have to cover up the situation entirely. The colonists returned to Autobot City with the stolen weaponry with none of the other Autobots any the wiser. Primeless, Part 2

When the crisis had passed and the space bridge had returned to functionality, Midnight Express and the other colonists went to Cybertron to attend Sideswipe's funeral. The Dead Come Home, Part 1 While Optimus presided over the opening ceremony of an Ore-13 mine in Kentucky, Midnight Express and the other colonists argued with Slide about Prime's true intentions aboard Metrotitan before Aileron intervened. Surfeit of Primes While the colonists were on the ground, Metrotitan abruptly took his leave to deal with a new crisis on Cybertron, spacebridging away and leaving the colonists stranded. The Ground Eventually, the team returned to Little Cybertron to wait for new orders; only to learn from the Junkions that Cybertron had abruptly lost contact with the planet Velocitron. A subsequent broadcast from Circuit revealed that the entire planet had been destroyed by an unknown force, as had Devisiun and Eukaris. News that Optimus planned to forestall the threat by sacrificing Midnight Express's homeworld of Caminus prompted Slide to announce that they were going rogue to end Prime's reign. Unstopped and Unstoppable

Roping Sky Lynx into their mission, Slide led her team to Mount Rushmore to rescue the recently imprisoned Jazz from G.I. Joe custody, but was unaware that Jazz had willingly surrendered himself—and that Trypticon and the Dinobots had also set up shop there, joining the battle to defend the Titan's new cargo of sparks from the colonists. In the crossfire, Gimlet was sliced in half by Slug after killing Mainframe in anger; the battle was only interrupted when Unicron himself appeared over the planet, having destroyed both Caminus and Cybertron in the interim and now intent on finishing off Earth, the final Cybertronian world. Time Will Rust The presence Wreck-Gar, Rum-Maj, and their Sharkticons, combined with Soundwave's overwhelming grief at losing his human friend, and the abrupt arrival of Prowl allowed the various warring factions to temporarily put their differences aside to focus on stopping the true threat: Unicron. A Sunrise Dark

Midnight Express and the other colonists returned to Victoria Falls, now home to Metroplex and the other Cybertronian refugees, to formulate a new plan, one that involved using the alien Talisman that had birthed the planet-eater to breach his impenetrable defenses and kill him. The next morning, as Unicron's Maximal swarms descended on the planet, Midnight Express was among the Cybertronians teleported into low Earth orbit by Metroplex and Trypticon to meet the planet-eater and his legions head-on. Assembly In the ensuing fight, Midnight Express and the other surviving colonists tried to spur a recalcitrant Slide into action, finally teaming up with the Dinobots to pursue Bludgeon's Worldsweeper flagship into Earth's atmosphere. He, Roulette, and Bump watched as Slide joined forces with the surviving Torchbearers, absorbing the energies of the Enigma of Combination to become Victorion's new limb. Ceremony Following Unicron's demise, thanks to Prime's sacrifice, Midnight Express joined Aileron, Jetfire, and the other colonists on a deep-space exploration mission. Post

Toys

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Robots in Disguise (2001)

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And I'll be with him / On that midnight train to Georgia
(Hasbro gray-windows release pictured)
  • J-Four (2000) / Midnight Express (Mega Class, 2001)
  • Takara ID number: C-014
  • Accessories: Linkage missile launcher, missile
  • Known designers: Yuichiro Hira (TakaraTomy), Masakatsu Saito (concept artist){{#if: |, {{{2}}}}}
Robots in Disguise Midnight Express transforms into an [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}E4 Series Shinkansen|{{#if:E4 Series|E4 Series|E4 Series Shinkansen}}]] "Max" bullet train. In this form, he can link up with the other Bullet Trains to form one long locomotive (albeit one made up entirely of engines with no passenger cars). His back-end link-section can be re-assembled to form a spring-loaded missile launcher for use in robot mode. He can also form the legs to the team's combined form Rail Racer.
There are significant differences between the Takara and Hasbro versions of Midnight Express. The Takara "J-Four" version has several portions cast in transparent plastic to give him clear windows, requiring extensive paint applications to blend in. The Takara versions of the Bullet Trains appear to have had a particularly bad run of quality control regarding the paint applications, with many having sloppily applied decoes.
The Hasbro version released in 2001 replaced the transparent plastics with opaques to cut back on the number of needed paint applications. An Autobot insignia was also added to the roof of the train mode, plus the yellow detail paint was replaced with a metallic gold. Midnight also gained a pair of gold stripes on the top of his train mode, and gold paint on his robot mode "abs". Early versions of the toy had gray-painted windows (the only one of the three trains to have painted windows in the first release, as unlike the other two his windows were not bordered by accent paint), but later runs changed the color to metallic blue paint to match the now-with-painted-windows versions of his teammates.
The Turkish release of Midnight Express uses the same packaging as the standard European release, except that a sticker with the name "Euro Express" has been slapped over the name on the box, as the film [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Midnight Express (film)|{{#if:Midnight Express|Midnight Express|Midnight Express (film)}}]] is a bit of a sore point in that country. [1] The toy itself is identical to the American release.


  • JRX (Multi-pack, 2000)
  • ID number: C-015
  • Accessories: Linkage missile launcher, missile
All three members of Team Bullet Train—J-Five, J-Four, and J-Seven—were also available in a complete box set in Japan. All three toys were identical to their individual releases.
While the individually packaged Bullet Trains came in clear-window packages to see the toys, the box set was completely windowless, so it was kind of a crap shoot as to the quality of paint you got with the set.
Sonokong also released this gift set in Korean markets with no differences other than the packaging.

Notes

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I say, are you calling me yellow?
  • Midnight's portrayals in the Japanese and English versions of the cartoon differed considerably more than those of his teammates. In Japan, he was given the voice and mannerisms of a well-mannered little kid, high-pitched wail and all. For the English version, he was an older, fussy C-3PO-type with a bit of an aristocratic air. However, no matter what the version, he's still basically a doof.
    • Additionally, the on-package bio for the Hasbro toy is based on Midnight's Japanese portrayal, describing him as his team's uplifting, fun-loving junior member with a preference for colder climates.
  • A version of Midnight Express (well, J-Four) with different robot mode deco appeared in the original Car Robots toy catalog. It featured significantly more yellow than the final version, along with other various color differences.
  • Midnight Express's transformation and ability to form the bottom half of Rail Racer are based on that of the Earth Liner from Brave Fighter of Legend Da-Garn.
  • Reportedly, the Bullet Trains, which were developed with Takara's very flexible pricing structure, really did not fit into Hasbro's more rigid existing price-points, budget-wise. They cost too much to be sold as Deluxes, but weren't really up to Mega-class costs.
  • While the original incarnation of Midnight Express transformed into an [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}E4 Series Shinkansen|{{#if:||E4 Series Shinkansen}}]], he was given an [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}E7 Series Shinkansen|{{#if:E7 Series|E7 Series|E7 Series Shinkansen}}]] alt-mode for Optimus Prime by Kei Zama.

Foreign names

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  • Japanese: J-Four (ジェイフォー Jeifō)
  • Korean: J-Four (제이포 Jeipo)
  • Russian: Express (Экспресс Ekspress)
  • Turkish: Euro Express
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