I picked up these figures long after I had actually moved on from collecting the toy line they were from because of their uniqueness. It's not often that you see Transformers that turn into trains, and it's not often that you get a set of combiners that are formed from 3 figures - it's just a very odd number of figures to combine. Team bullet train was an anomaly in the Transformers Universe and anomalies are usually cooler and more valuable than more standard figures. Unfortunately these trains were not in the best of condition when I bought them and Rapid Run is missing part of his weapon which makes him incomplete and far less valuable as a set than they would be otherwise.
Team bullet train is also unique because it (along with other figures in its toy line) reveals a fundamental difference in the understanding of heroism between Japanese culture and North American (can I broaden that to say Eastern and Western culture? I don't know so I'll stick to Japan and North America) culture. This can be easily noted in the differences between different iterations of the Transformers Universe.
The Transformers toy line began back in the early 80s in Japan by the company Takara whereas the Transformers mythology (and original Television series and comic book series) had it's origins in North America a couple years later. The original series (now referred to an Generation One or G1) contained very western story lines. After season three the narrative split - in North America we received a three-part miniseries called Rebirth that introduced the Headmasters and Targetmaster toys. These toys were robots who's heads and weapons detached and transformed into smaller robots. In the west, the explanation was that in a time of crisis and desperation humans (and humanoid aliens) overcame adversity by working together cooperatively thus giving birth to a new type of transformer. In Japan, that miniseries was disregarded completely and a whole new season was produced where the Headmasters (the title of the series actually) were tiny robots who "powered up" into big robots by joining with their bodies. Hence the theme of heroism by power was first explored in Transformers mythology.
Over the years since then there have been a number of transformers series, some produced in Japan and dubbed over to the States and some produced over here and dubbed over to Japan. The ones that originate over here tend to illustrate heroes who are outnumbered, out-gunned and out-classed by the villains; yet somehow by sheer force of righteous purpose and will they manage to overcome the odds and save the day. A great example of that would be the recent Transformers: Animated where the creators made a conscious choice to not only make the Autobots diminutive in size compared to the Decepticons, but also to arm the Decepticons with weapons of war and the Autobots with tools (an axe, a wrecking ball, magnets, welding tools). The only way that the Autobots were able to prevail was ingenuity. On the other hand we have the Japanese series which focus on an escalation of power where he with the most power prevails (the good guys always end up the most powerful in the end) a prime example being Transformers:Robots in Disguise (which was called Car Robots in Japan) which is the series Team Bullet Train hails from.
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| Yeah, that's right. I'm three trains in one. Deal with it! |
In Japanese Transformers mythology the Autobots overcome the Decepticons by being more powerful, by finding an artifact, or an ancient power source, a mythical weapon or by joining forces with others to produce something far greater than the sum of it's parts. That's why toy lines driven by Japanese narrative forces tend to feature many more combiners than North American based series. In Japanese narratives power is found, possessed and exploited for either good or evil - but it is an external thing that must be acquired and mastered to be of use. In North American narratives power in found within, in the most unlikely of places and that inner-strength is what enables the hero to prevail.
It's an interesting difference, but it begs the question (and you knew I'd go there) what do we believe about power and heroism? When we look at someone who uses power for good to overcome an evil or injustice (a fair definition of a hero) how do we define that power? Is it external as the Japanese assert or internal as we have been raised by society to believe?
Well not surprisingly according to the Bible the answer is neither and both. The power to act heroically comes from an external source that lives within us - we call that Power God as manifest through the person of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit does not operate the way either culture envisions it in their narratives. Unlike the Japanese perspective we do not acquire or master the power of the Holy Spirit - he is not a tool to be utilized for our purposes or our gain. In Acts chapter 8 we get the story of Simon the Magician a witch-doctor of sorts who amazed people with his great power. Along come the apostles who demonstrate even more power than he has by laying on of hands and praying for people to receive the Holy Spirit. Simon is amazed at what he sees and desires to have that power for himself.
Simon noticed that the Spirit was given only when the apostles placed their hands on the people. So he brought money and said to Peter and John, "Let me have this power too! Then anyone I place my hands on will also be given the Holy Spirit
Acts 8:18-19 (Contemporary English Bible)
Simon, the text clearly states in verse 13 was a believer in the Lord. He was baptized and followed Philip around like a lost puppy, amazed at what the apostles were doing. But he wanted to master the Holy Spirit and use Him as a tool and Peter thoroughly rebuked him for it. The thing we need to learn about that power is that we are not called to master it, but rather we are called as followers of Christ to allow his power to master us. We don't learn to be good Christians by practicing our craft we grow in our giftedness and ability to be used by God as we yield more and more of ourselves to the power at work within us that is making us more like Christ. We call that process sanctification.
And unlike the North American mindset which is thoroughly humanist (or robot-ist?) in it's philosophy - that the power to overcome anything is latent within us - the Bible teaches that in and of ourselves we can do nothing; that none are righteous apart from God (Psalm 14:2-3,16:2, Romans 3:23) and that it is God who gives us strength (Philippians 4:13) and his strength is made perfect not in our internal fortitude, but in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
I don't know if there is anything sacrilegious about drawing Bible lessons out of Transformers narratives but I think I just did it. I hope that was helpful.
Until tomorrow,
Chris
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