| “ |
What I'm doing here is my job. I'm an inventor, an engineer, a snappy dresser, but I'm not your caretaker! |
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| —Amelia | ||
Amelia Hughes[1] is a human who boarded the Infinity Train following the death of her fiancé Alrick, and usurped One-One as The Conductor when he refused to make her a train car with Alrick in it. She was defeated by Tulip Olsen when the latter helped One-One reclaim his position as conductor. Now in her late 60s, Amelia works for One-One by fixing the mistakes she made on the train. She was the main antagonist of Book One, the tritagonist of Book Three and a recurring character in Book Four.
Appearance[]
Amelia is a human female of medium build in a massive robotic suit. The suit, which is modified from the pod that she boarded the train with, has an oscilloscope-like display in its "eye" that oscillates whenever she speaks, using a voice changer that her husband Alrick created. She wears a hooded navy blue robe that is draped over her robot to conceal "his" identity.
In Book One, Amelia had her caramel brown hair braided in a pigtail with a gray coat, jeans, and snow boots.
In Book Three, Amelia's hair has been tied into a French braid. She wears a gray jumpsuit with a One-One logo on the right breast, a light gray tank top, a wristwatch on her left hand, a black belt with another One-One emblem as the buckle, and a black backpack for holding her gear. Her belt generates an invisible force field capable of blocking incoming attacks and repelling attackers, namely Simon. Her physical appearance depicts her to have very strong arms for a 60+ year old woman.
This jumpsuit/boiler suit/flight suit has uncommon design features: it has belt loops instead of the more common elastic waist band and a moto-zipper (diagonal zipper) instead of splitting down the middle. It has a fly that implies a zipper on the right side while the upper portion of the suit has a zipper on the left. There is also no overlap underneath the left and right breasts of the suit. The upper zipper seems to start at the base of the collar, not extend beyond it. The suit has what is presumably velcro straps in the neck and sleeves to adjust its fit, which suggests that the suit was not tailored for her.
In Book 1 and Book 4, during her youth, Amelia wears a brown shirt and a long black jeans and her hair is much shorter and lighter in color.
Personality[]
Initially kind and caring, Alrick's death and her time on the train had turned Amelia into a selfish, cold-hearted, callous person who didn't care about the needs and wants of other passengers and believed in escapism over coping. She would not hesitate to kill or harm anyone who stood in her way, mostly to set an example for Tulip and other passengers. This was shown when she ruthlessly neutralized and transformed Atticus by blasting him with her laser gun, and even threatening to kill the Cat if she disobeyed her orders. After her defeat, Amelia seems remorseful for her actions. Tulip encourages her to adapt to the changes in her life, and try to get her number to zero.
In Book Three, Amelia works with One-One to make amends and undo the mistakes she made on the train, though she still retains a certain degree of cynicism and a sarcastic personality. Although her number has begun to go down as a result of her efforts, she is apathetic to the changes as they pale in comparison to her large number. She also expresses a dislike of children, being openly condescending to Grace, Simon, and Hazel. Despite this, she is patient enough to explain how the train works, how her life goes, and maintaining a sense of humor such as laughing at the concept of being a "prisoner" to One-One, calling him "a little peanut".
History[]
To read all the appearances of Amelia visit the synopsis article.
Early Life[]
Born in the United Kingdom, Amelia had a talent for engineering in her childhood, including building her own crystal radio. However, her efforts were largely looked down upon by the people in her life. One exception to this was a boy named Alrick Timmens, who recognized her talent and would cheer her up whenever she was talked down to by her teacher. The two eventually attended engineering school, and at some point along the way they became romantically involved and were engaged. However, before they could wed, Alrick died suddenly and she was unable to cope with the loss. Shortly afterwards she encountered the Infinity Train on the roof of her old university and boarded it.
Conductor Era[]
As the new conductor, she devoted the next thirty-three years of her life to trying to build a car that recreated her old life with Alrick, using her knowledge of technology to make the Steward help her collect power orbs from other cars to assist in her work. This course of action caused her numbers to go so high that they nearly covered her entire body. However, most of the cars she made only included elements of her old life, including their university, a phone booth they shared a memory in, and an absurd amount of turtles due to her memories of a handkerchief with a turtle design on it, which she still had. Among the denizens she created during her efforts were Aloysius, who shared Alrick's voice and glasses, and Hazel, who bore Amelia's initial number of 337 and used British slang, as well as having some of Amelia's memories.
At one point seven years before the events of Book Three, a young passenger named Grace Monroe was being chased by The Steward, who was under Amelia's control, in the Pumpkin Car. Amelia called off the Steward and had it give her one of the car's power orbs, giving Grace a glimpse of the number on Amelia's arm. This led Grace to believe the goal of the train was to have the highest number, and formed the Apex as a group dedicated to achieving this goal.
Demotion[]
After One-One reclaimed his position as the conductor, Amelia sided with him to help undo the damage she did to the train. She set up an electric pulse designed to identify cars with her code in it (namely, the college campuses, phone booths, and an absurd number of turtles). Three weeks before the events of "The Campfire Car," the pulse malfunctioned and caused the train to start ejecting those cars. One-One sent her through the train to fix the problem and quarantine any cars with the code.
Legacy[]
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Relationships[]
Alrick[]
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One-One[]
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Tulip[]
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Hazel[]
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The Cat[]
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Trivia[]
Character sheet available at the Cartoon Network voice acting seminar at San Diego Comic-Con 2018 (includes early concept of the Conductor suit).
- Although Infinity Train arguably does not have a singular main character due to its nature as an anthology, Amelia comes the closest to being the series protagonist. She does not appear in every season, but her actions in taking over the train have consequences that affect the storylines of all four seasons. Most significantly, it is her story that is repeatedly expanded on in each season: Book 1 shows the end of her reign and her backstory; Book 2 shows the consequences of her time in charge; Book 3 depicts her actions after she was defeated; and Book 4 hints at her actions prior to and during her takeover. Owen Dennis has confirmed the planned Book 5 was meant to be a film focusing on Amelia's takeover of the train, and that she and Hazel were slated to return in a later book.
- At San Diego Comic-Con 2018, Cartoon Network hosted a voice acting seminar that included audition sides for Amelia, the Cat, and Randall for participants to read. The official description for Amelia was this: "Amelia is a mysterious woman in her late 60's, living in her robotic suit, trying hard to hold onto and rebuild a life she once lived. 30 years ago she suffered a great tragedy, throwing her into a spiral of sadness and anger, which pushed her to board the Infinity Train. She doesn't care about others or what they're going through, she is on a single-minded mission to restore her own past and will do whatever it takes to get it, never coming to terms with the impossible futility of this mission. She has a commanding authoritative voice, but deep down is terrified of her own morality and future."
- The sides also included some lines of dialogue, none of which have been used in the show itself.
- (playful, humanizing) What kind of car does a crazy person drive? A LOCOmotive! Haha I'm sorry, that's simply awful.
- (idealistic) This train can do anything. We can live in perfection, free from the horrors of our lives forever!
- (spiteful, vindictive) You think you're so important, like you're the only person in the world who's ever felt loss before.
- The sides also included some lines of dialogue, none of which have been used in the show itself.
Gallery[]
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References[]
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