Line #4 YMMV/Railhead


1	* AuthorAppeal: Unsurprisingly, Philip Reeve [[RailEnthusiast likes trains]].
2	* EnsembleDarkHorse: Flex, the factory-worker Motorik saved from rioters by Zen's sister Myka who GrewBeyondTheirProgramming to become a gender-fluid (quite literally) train graffiti artist, struck a chord with many reviewers. This is quite possible due to them being a [[NiceGuy almost universally kindly and selfless person]] in a series full of GreyAndGreyMorality and starring a NominalHero.
3	* KarmicOverkill: Kobi Chen-Tulsi starts off as a [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal boorish bullying brat]] who tries to kill Zen in a HuntingAccident after his betrothed, Threnody, starts getting a little too friendly with "[[ImpersonationGambit Tallis Noon]]". He's subjected to some well-deserved LaserGuidedKarma after he [[{{Irony}} nearly gets flattened by the beast him and 'Tallis' were supposed to be hunting]], but things ''get so much worse'' for him, even though he actually learns from his past {{Jerkass}}ery. His relationship with Threnody actually starts going somewhere after he TookALevelInKindness, but that gets thrown out the window once she becomes Empress and consequently [[AltarDiplomacy far too important to marry him]]. His family then send him off to be married to one of the Prells, even though he despises their cold planets and AffluentAscetic lifestyle, where he discovers their plot to invade Grand Central and usurp the Network Empire. He tries to warn Threnody, but is ultimately [[UndignifiedDeath shot dead in a train toilet]] by the [[ProfessionalKiller Mako twins]], with his messages reaching her mere minutes too late.
4	* MagnificentBastard: [[BrainUploading Dhravid Raven]] was once a digital demigod [[MesACrowd with many bodies]], created after an ordinary man fell in love with a [[DeusEstMachina Guardian]] named Anais Six. Discovering that the Guardians were concealing the existence of alien life and {{Precursors}} who built the [[PortalNetwork K-Gates]] used by humanity, and after trying to leak this information to the public, the Guardians tried to 'delete' him. [[DidYouJustScamCthulhu Surviving in a single body]], Raven reverse-engineered precursor technology to build his own K-Gate, aiming to escape the Guardians for good. He later manipulated [[LovableRogue Zen Starling]] into recovering a precursor artifact needed to complete the gate from the Imperial train, using an elaborate ImpersonationGambit, and leaving his young accomplice unaware that the plan involved crashing the train and killing hundreds to cover Zen's escape. Despite [[HeKnowsTooMuch Zen being a loose end]] at this point, Raven keeps his word and rewards Zen handsomely, which eventually leads to Zen reappearing just before Raven is about to fire up the K-Gate, having destroyed his train and inadvertently guided a [[StateSec Railforce]] wartrain, commanded by a physical avatar of Anais, to his location. Raven hardly blinks, effortlessly disarming Zen and crushing Railforce using vastly inferior firepower, and is once again about to make his exit when he's killed by a wild animal. Nevertheless, he remains dignified and calm to the end, [[DeadpanSnarker snarking at his surviving enemies]] as he lays dying.

Context YMMV / Railhead