Jello Reviews - Infinity Train

Jello: “sorry this one is a long one” Me looking at the 7 hour octopath and 6 hour 3 houses reviews

Hamyton

That's kinda rude.

Domonic Henning

I dont like Infinity Train, but I love almost every IDEA Infinity Train has. The writers of Infinity Train are the ultimate idea guys who for whatever reason write a show where they don’t take a single one of them seriously. Things like Amelia’s endless attempts to recreate her husband, and MT’s value as a human/validation from one one, OR EVEN HAZEL LEAVING are given such little impact in comparison to their importance that its embarrassing. I just wish it was good and that wish is easy to cling onto.

Oh I feel that.

Folkloric

you ever have that moment where you realize that you've forgotten what people on the internet are like?... so like, I've been going through all these audio reviews while I'm at work, casually enjoying them, and I finally got to this one where there's a direct call to action for people to discus shit in the comments and I was like "oh, this'll be fun! I can see some old opinions, it'll be like a little archive on this very specific thing, yada yada", and then... literally the first thing I read reminded me why I don't engage with things publicly anymore...

Elated Megalodon

Infinity train gets a surprise 5th season, the main characters name is "Brandon Chatter." His "problem" is wasting too much time on his failing youtube channel. It's 9 episodes of him just getting the shit kicked out of him and in the final episode, his door to the outside world just randomly opens but then he randomly trips and stumbled for 7 minutes and falls off the train into the wheels

Drednot

"Ship up or shape out."

Folkloric

hey sorry to point this out but at minute 8 you remembered the reason Tulip can't go to code camp wrong. Her parents are recently divorced and didn't coordinate on who would drive her (because they recently separated), there wasn't any last minute emergency or money issues. Also the dog doesn't permanently die, they transform him back in the end.

mewo

Just recently am going through Infinity train putting it on while working, I REALLY liked seson 1 because the mystery about the Number and the wonder of the cars felt fantastic. I felt thrown right back into Gravity Falls with the weird and abnormal that has an explination that just needs to be unlocked. I was fine with Tulip and her flaws because she was trying to figure out the train as much as I was and felt along with the adventure. One-One really wasnt that annoying past episode 2 where she tried to trade him off, really fell into the background until big character moments like the "broken" car. I greatly enjoyed slowly learning about the train and the conductor, and kinda wish book1 stretched that a bit longer. After the fake conductor was revealed and the train is fully explined I feel the later seasons have less impact. Now that you know the rules its up to the characters to control the story which a gree isnt overly stellar. I love the little nuggest of extra train lore and there were a few moments that really punched me in the heart I can agree its overly not fun to watch an unlikeable protaganist. Thats where it kinda falls short being a ride for inately unlikaable and substantially flawed people. Personally i dont know how people say the books get better I think its been downhill since book 1 not a sharp decline, but like stated when the big mystery is gone i felt it lost impact and I'm struggling to get past book 4. Oh and it being a kid show REALLY nerfed it, every season past the first had points for a REALLY good tragic end but they decide to write around to a happy ending for the protagonist, both Book 2 and 3 felt very contrived with their resolution. I'm not upset they didnt die but you can feel where if this was a novel you know the chapeter would have just cut right there and moved on.

Gold_Dragon

Didn’t have an issue with Tulip being a hot head and really liked MT and didn’t really care about the bell character but otherwise agree 120% especially with how the show seems to waste time and promise “potential” that isn’t coming. It sort of reminds me of the Venture bros situation where season 1 is ok, 2 -3 are pretty good, but then season 4-5 are AWFUL and season 6-7 are fucking amazing — I sort of hate how many cartoon nerds online have written off the management and production sides of being a “showrunner” like having infinite budget and time should be a given as long as someone’s work is “interesting” and not “hot garbage”. The hard truth of the matter is there are a LOT of skilled writers and artists —and people who do both— but there’s only so many resources that can go to show many projects at a given time and we don’t live forever. Most people don’t even GET a shot so it always feels a little “there was probably someone with better ideas if not all out better show management skills who got passed up for this position/budget” when shows like IT run the way they do.

Bestpartofwakingup

just listened through all of this, (keep in mind jello, i am a big fan of infinity train, your take is completely valid as i have my own criticisms towards it) i feel like infinity train suffers from the SAO effect, the initial idea and plot is AWESOME like super cool ideas all around a video game youre stuck in? oh yea homestuck me up man that sounds sick!! a train purgatory realm to learn lessons on and be a less shitty person? heck yea make me a decent human being!! but i feel as though the potential that couldve been there was truly wasted, and yea i have several conspiracys that this show would be massively better if the team was given more respect and freedom to do insane shit but because this originally was produced for kids on cartoon network, then renewed on hbomax, there mightve been a ton of corporate influence within that space for the team as is told by the shittiness of hbomax literally removing infinity train off of its site very short notice (dont remember if this audio was made before or after so oopsie) but conspiracy theory aside and back on topic, i feel like instead of writing out all the possible outcomes for a thing that could happen while world building they just sort of thought of a few things that could happen without the time investment to think of the possible outcomes of an idea and the repercussions for those outcomes they just took an idea, like nulls not being real people, and didnt think twice about it :( i adore the concepts and the ideas of infinity train but they dont develop those ideas enough to make fully coherent plot, i really wish more time and care was put into it. also as a side note i am kinda surprised that you really like season 1 of owl house o.O as most peoples criticisms for owl house have to do with season 1 so me thinks if you like season 1 youll adore season 2, and once you review it i will have a mountain of information to say about owl house as its one of my favorite shows at the moment !! so please watch season 2 when you get the chance !!!!!

Intercosmic

I for sure agree with the issues with season 4, it sucks and I wish it didn't exist. I think Tulip was brash but it was kind of the point of her and her anger was based on her issues at home leading her to get angry about everything but that was just my interpretation of her. I think the root problem with Infinity Train is that yes, it definitely has some very noticeable problems with continuity and following its own rules, in particular the reflection thing. Other than that though I thought learning about the rules of the train and how the different interpretations people have about the train forms and just how the overall concept gets explored. Infinity Train is a really good show that just requires a lot of suspension of disbelief, even if that does actually warrant well-deserved criticism. Also for Grace and Simon while it is rushed and poorly thought-out with Grace's swap to being the good guy, I really enjoyed their story because it was a cool, tragic story of Grace having to face the fact that this awful lifestyle that not only she's lived by for most of her life but also indoctrinated a lot of innocent kids into was wrong and then watch Simon double down when she tries to nudge him to vindicate her change of heart and brand her as evil and alienate her from her entire life.

lozkrem

Just wanna say, I'd love to hear your thoughts on Owl House; would also be interested in hearing your thoughts on amphibia, i think you said on twitter you didn't really get into season 1, but I honestly think season 2 and season 3 are really good. The finale made me cry.

Chandler B

I loved Infinity Train, but even watching it there is a lot of whiplash from the changes in tone. Still, I think that season 1 was the best, and I'd agree with Ackim in that I'm not sure where your impression of tulip comes from. To me, her aggression seemed to be a reaction of both impatience and fear of the unknown around her that she had a hard time understanding. I felt that the way season 1 showed the repression of memories in two characters was very interesting and I believe that there is an observable change in Tulip from her state of constant aggression, which is shown in places like the play palace.

Average

One of the things that really made me like the first two seasons of Infinity Train is honestly that I love Tulip. I genuinely don't recognise your description of her at all. Of course, we all have our own biases and characters will come across differently. But I love how realistic Tulip feels. She has a curious mind and methodically explores things. A good early example of this is how the interacts with the cube car early in the show. She's intelligent, but she isn't cartoon-intelligent, where her smarts make her some kind of hyper genius. And I think her logical brain is part of what makes the absurd train frustrating for her, sometimes. Because, to her, this is a life or death situation, but no one except her takes it seriously. Especially since she is canonically on that train for months. But maybe we just see her behaviour differently (or the fact that you were actively in pain while watching it made her more abrasive) because she really works for me. As a nerdy child who also went through my parents divorcing at around that age, I see her struggle as very relatable and realistic. I like MT a lot, too. But my favourite character in the second season is actually Jesse. I like his struggle. Once again, I was able to relate a lot to an insecure people-pleaser. Someone who needs to be liked by everyone and almost loses himself in that need. I think it's pretty well-handled, honestly.

Archie

I've never seen the show, and sure maybe the fans were mad that you made your tweets so soon after the HBO mess, but its not acceptable to give you so much garbage just for giving an opinion. I love your audio reviews (makes for a great listen while playing story of seasons) and I don't blame you for wanting to leave twitter.

Ignis Astrorum

I have a lot to say, I hope you don't mind a text wall in the near future. I'll do my best to be polite, I'm no sixteen-year-old.

Brethren Toons

I haven’t watched Infinity Train, but enjoyed the review regardless. It sounds like it did have a lot of potential, but less “it shouldn’t have been canceled” and more “the premises had a lot of potential but the writing fell short”. Darn. The Owl House is really good - I’d love to hear your thoughts on it once you finish watching.

Leaf

Haven't watched this yet, but I feel like I'm going to have a lot of thoughts based on your Twitter and how much I did not agree with that. I'll follow this comment up when I'm done, so... fingers crossed that you can make me think about one of my favorite shows in a different way.

Brethren Toons

"I'll probably lose some supporters on Patreon for this" Ok but consider: this is also why you HAVE some of your Patrons. I like that you're incurably honest about your opinions on things (even when you shouldn't be), and that you explain them in full detail. If some media is so personal to me that I'd get RSD from listening to a negative review of it, then I simply won't listen to that review (Komi Can't Communicate). I like that you don't care if something is popular or not, that you own up to your biases, and that you explicitly state WHY you thought certain stories, characters, or themes fell flat. That's the sort of genuine critique I enjoy listening to because it helps me approach my own writing with a more critical eye.

Candaru Driemor

me: ooh new review! I'll just listen to this linked clip first for some context since I haven't watched the show me: me: oh me: oh I h a t e this

Candaru Driemor

My enjoyment from infinity train was it's attempt to approach the subject of neurodivergence and just different ways of thinking. I actually really liked Tulip, that aggressively snapping at someone while in a stressful situation is a behavior I see in a loved one who has autism. And while they don't outright state that Tulip has autism, the impression I got from her behavior. When I showed them infinity train, there reaction to specifically Tulip was "That is me." They resonated with Tulip, because they not only depicted the positive traits of being autistic, but the negative ones that they struggled with themselves. Now I will whole heartily admit that, personal experience probably did blind me into many of it's flaws. And there is a reason why I say it made an attempt, because they didn't succeed in all aspects Like season 3 is where they started to loos the thread for me, because they clearly wanted to broach the subject of just sociopaths and cults, which I honestly was really interested in seeing if they could broach that can of worms tactfully. Which they didn't, it honestly felt like they were going too, but realized "oh there is no way we can do this without getting dark." And instead changed the messaging too "peer enforced prejudice is bad, maybe don't" and...like I really liked Marcie being so manipulative and it's such a wasted opportunity, because in her flashback they could have easily explained her manipulative behavior by depicting it as a learned behavior from her parents (who being rich were already monsters why not make them sociopaths as well.) and Season 4 was just trash I think they were trying to go with some introvert vs extrovert style story and it just falls flat on it's face. I remember hearing that this season was done during the covid lock down, which at least explains the shitty audio. But all in all I enjoyed the series and I was hoping to see more and was hoping they'd tackle other matters of mental importance. Because I am still waiting to see ANY show depict my own personal mental demon dyslexia as more than just a no read, no write, or no math good.

Bersy

honestly, for me I am a person who tends to enjoy things at face value, I usually don't notice the little mistakes or big mistakes until someone points them out, I just enjoyed infinity train because it was something new for me at the time so it was interesting shifts ngl, I did not like the cat and MT however I did like jesses and MT dynamic I just wish MT was a lil better, and for s3 I went in it completely blind so I was legit enraptured by the story, now that you pointed it out yes I do think they should have given a better reason for the cult but I really liked the arc itself, s4 i barely remember i only remember the 1st ep and the rest is just blank, I did like infinity train, could it have been better absolutely, but i think its just a solid watch to turn your brain off to

BIBSSS

I like infinity train because I'm a slut for chaos and its agents, so I like it for the exact reasons that you don't like it. I saw a girl taking a bite out of a raw onion like it was a an apple and thought "my terrible goblin brain is gonna make me watch this whole show, isn't it?" And it did. No regrets. I'm surprised you didn't mention the nonbinary coding of MT in season 2, is there a reason for that?

Shovlin

At the bit around 1hr 20 minutes where you were wondering who is the target demographic for this show. Immediately I thought of JtHM comic by Jhonen Vasquez. Which was some of the first dark edgy existential media I latched onto at 16/17. I have interacted with none of infinity train outside listening to this review, so I don't know how accurate this impression is.

MiiRshroom

I enjoyed infinity train mainly becuase of the concepts it offers up, mainly in season 2 & 3 where they cover identity of a reflection, what it means to be human, and subjective reality. I do enjoy the humor of apathy in face of wonderment that infinity train presents. I agree that while the concepts are very cool they don't tend to get explored adequately and the core concept would be served a lot better if at least the human characters were more reasonable/consistant and the cars were more thematic and personal (for a kids version) or alternatively have cars that are so broken that people just have to struggle in a poorly managed well intentioned system (for a teen/adult version) Whenever I hear "potential" for a piece of media I just hear "a good concept that would be fun to explore." However season 4 was such a train wreck that I think they ran out of fun/interesting concepts and the writing/execution just can't carry the show.

Dettrahopper

I love Infinity Train...yeah I agree with almost all of this, but here's a few things I like about Infinity train. I love that Alan Draula is a silent companion character that doesn't just act like a dog. I love how this show does a cool twist on companion characters in general. I love MT/Lakes arc. I love how dark it can get after showing something silly to make the dark stuff hit harder. The conclusion of it is very fun. What I don't like is like you said it wastes so much of its very valuable time on stuff that does not matter. I like how (except in season four which I feel the cars got too weird.) The the cars are a good balance or feeling kinda random chance, but not to the point where it feels out of nowhere like Adventure time often does. I love Hazel and Tuba. I think Amelia is a very interesting and fascinating to watch character I wish she was there more. (This is just me word vomiting into a comment, so sorry about that. I really loved this video. I love hearing well explained opinions different from my own.)

Berry Straw

I’ve only seen the first episode of infinity train, only thing that stood out to me was the music! From what I can tell a huge part of its appeal is it supposedly being deep/dark/complex. The concepts and the vibe seem perfectly geared towards tweens teens/20 something’s that really want to watch a deep/dark/meaningful cartoon. I think a chunk of those people are going through that early teen angst like you said, but it can’t just be that if it’s getting so much love, right? Kinda jumping off of that I think that regardless of the quality of the actual show, people want it to be good and successful so other things with a similar tone(?) and audience(?) would be made. I was on the fence about watching this until I listened to this, and the only reason I wanted to watch it was to see why it was being so hyped up! It had nothing to do with the premise or anything. I always got the vibe that it would be mid and that people were just celebrating the vibe or like “what it meant for the industry” in their mind. Rn I’m 17, I’m assuming that’s a bit old compared to what the target demographic is (probably like 12-14 ?) But I remember being a tween well enough to say that that’s probably a big chunk of where the hype Is coming from. And hey! Good for them, and for anything who loves it. Who knows, maybe your takes are as bad as everyone on Twitter always says they are 😱 I’m sure they’re coming at it from a good place lmao Anyway repetitive wall of text is done. love the long rants lol, next one being on the owl house would be cool!

S

What about the show did you like, out of curiosity? You didn't really give anything specific there, so I'm not sure what you mean.

Finn Underwood

I'm one of the aformentioned 20 and I appreciate being appreciated. While I'm making a comment. I want to say that I do a lot of writing in my spare time and I like listening to these long form pieces of content, and it helps me look more critically at my own writing.

Jacob

I wonder if people voted for it because they wanted you to like it or because they knew you’d not like it

Psycho

Mmmmm I've been thinking about this since I listened to this review in the morning, and relistened later. You make a lot of valid points about the show and a few I still personally disagree with. I think at the end of the day I still really like infinity train and I probably will still recommend it to others. I just digest and discuss media a lot different than others, I think I'm far too sympathetic to the human element that goes into the shows and videogames (aka I don't think it's fair for anyone who's determined to put something out there to be screwed over like they did, even before the show was pulled from streaming)

prep

I'm honestly sorry that I hurt your enjoyment of the show. I definitely didn't love it myself, but I was hoping comments on here would be able to elevate something I had missed to make me respect parts more, not make people who liked the show feel like they had watched it wrong. :(

JelloApocalypse

Good review. Love long content like this. Didn't watch the show but it sounds like a cool concept. When people say it had potential I think they ment the idea of the show and blur the 2 things together.

tikimanlele

I found the first two seasons charming but nothing *too* special (6/10, 7/10 show), I actually found the third season the weakest IMO, and the fourth just kinda exists. I can get people empathizing with the characters so strongly they look past some of the more obvious shortcomings, at the very least. But yeah, it's weird to me how many people *love* the show. Update: After listening to Jello pointing out Season 4's faults, I think I legit checked out of season 4 while watching and forgot most everything besides "hey I like the two guys' arc on paper". That was most of what I got out of this show, really: I empathized with characters and loved the setting, the show itself is just kinda... yeah. Update-update: Spent some time trying to articulate what I liked about Season 2 specifically without rewatching it (which I really should do, been a while) - Firstly, I empathized with MT completely; I projected myself onto her emotions and likely gave her more subtext than the writers did, but I found myself relating to her a lot. Secondly, the idea of taking what felt like a throwaway character from the first season and making them the protagonist was something I'd never seen before. Thirdly, the entire premise of "can robot be human" is something I'm particularly weak to, and while this wasn't as neatly done as I've seen elsewhere, I did love the whole "she's helping him lower his number while he helps her become more human" dynamic MT and Jason had going on. Finally, I don't think I had as many problems with the dialogue as you, nor did I really mind the fact that the comedy never really made me laugh - didn't even notice the jokes were supposed to be laugh-out-loud jokes, tbh, felt more like they were just characters talking in an entertaining way. Idk. Also holy crap yes watch and give thoughts on Owl House plz.

Finn Underwood

Thank you for this delightful review. After listening to this I have decided I should watch the Owl House.

Braydon Hill

I liked Infinity Train but I didn’t love it, Season 4 especially. I definitely get what you’re talking about with the dialogue as I found some of it pretty cringey. I’d rather rewatch Over the Garden Wall as it covers similar themes far better and makes better use of its runtime.

Kruh-Daze

I only watched the first few episodes and thought it was good but didn't feel any desier to watch more.

Actually embarrassed

Before listening to this review I *thought* I liked Infinity Train, but in trying to come up with an answer to your question as to what I liked about it, I've pretty much come up empty. I think a lot of people, myself included, don't tend to think nearly as critically about the media they consume as you and the majority of your friends. Where for someone like you, analytical engagement on an intellectual level seems to be largely automatic, I think others such as myself trend more towards a state of passive "along for the ride" enjoyment. Maybe it's rude to insinuate that about the entire non-me section of the Infinity Train fanbase, though. I didn't dislike Tulip or Kez as much as you, but there was nothing I particularly liked about either of them either. I hated the entire main cast of Book 2 though, including MT, who I considered distinct enough from Tulip to be worthy of a unique ire. The dialog-writing style didn't, and still doesn't, bother me. Book 3 was definitely my favorite, if only because I appreciated the creative choice to focus on villain protagonists enough to not stop and consider whether their arcs made any sense. Overall, if I had to pick out any moments that elevated the show above "decidedly average" they would definitely be the ones involving the only parts of the show you liked--the lore surrounding the train itself, and Hazel. Back when I watched the show, I had gotten the feeling that the general consensus on the seasons' quality levels was 3 > 2 > 1 > 4, Being a bit of a baseless contrarian, I convinced myself that MY opinion was 3 > 4 > 1 > 2, but I don't think I could justify that position now if I had to. I can't remember anything seasons 1 or 4 did to earn a spot above season 2, which at least had an interesting ending even if I hated the cast. All in all... it seems like Infinity Train isn't all that worthy of thought, so I'm going to go back to not thinking about it, like I was doing before listening to and commenting on this review.

Flaming Olive

I still like Infinity Train, but you're not wrong! I'd probably would have noticed some-not all-of the issues on a second watch. Purely going on the memories of my feelings from like, a year maybe 2 ago-I found more charm in the mascots than you did. I also liked the overall character growth for each person, even tho the episodic lessons were pretty hit or miss. Also, fans in general tend to be more forgiving to a point if they think something is cool and the premise and concept of the train and potential for analysis meets that criteria personally and in the fandom in general. While i dont really feel that strongly, a part of the upset over the loss of season 5 was that it was apparently going to be amelia-centric (conductor lady). She definitley had one of the more interesting story lines and was a character that had impact. It sucks that you're having to deal with all these temper tantrums and it sucks that a lot of people dont know how to not take it personally when people disagree. I'm reminded of that one prozd skit which im linking if ur interested https://youtu.be/aJX4ytfqw6k

dollqueen

While I don’t dislike Infinity Train, it never hooked me like it seemed to for most people. But I still supported the show for the sake of the fans who do love it.

CroakPad