| “ | Teamwork begins with two people trusting each other. (steps on Tuba's hand) But you? You're no person. | „ |
| ~ Simon betraying and murdering Tuba - his most infamous quote. |
| “ | Your numbers speak louder than words, void! | „ |
| ~ Simon's rise to power as he takes over the Apex. |
Simon Laurent is the secondary antagonist of the animated series Infinity Train, serving as one of the two secondary antagonists (alongside Grace Monroe) of Book 2 and the main antagonist of Book 3.
He is a founding member and later the de-facto leader of the Apex and former best friend of Grace.
He was voiced by Kyle McCarley, who also voiced Dev Dimmadone in The Fairy Odd Parents A New Wish.
Appearance[]
Simon was a tall and slim young man with blonde hair put into a ponytail. He wears a white hoodie with tattered tan khakis with the left leg sleeve torn. He also wears bicycle pads on his knees and wears grey and black shoes. He has the mark of the Apex on his face.
During his dominance over the Apex, Simon replaces his hoodie with a black shirt and lets his hair down. He has a red army jacket draped over his shoulders as a cape.
Personality[]
| “ | Why would I ever want to change if I'm always right?!' | „ |
| ~ Simon whilst fighting Grace. |
In the early portion of Book Three, Simon was intent on being logical and factual for the incoming of problems. Though his analytical mind remained set for these problems, he was anxious with his output of the information, implying early on that behind his obsession with logic that could be related to his inferiority context, his true mind was emotionally broken with the events of the trauma he has suffered through for almost the majority of his life.
He has a fear of abandonment and attachment issues, stemming from the event with The Cat. Because of this, his educated and attempted proper form occasionally breaks into emotional outbursts such as in the cabin, when he confronts The Cat for what she did to him as a child. It's also notable to mention with his attachment issues of his adamant crush on Grace, which is diminished entirely due to his somewhat logical paranoia. After his suspicions came to truth, Simon's mental health exponentially digressed into insanity, for his eight-year best friend and unofficial romantic partner, Grace, had "turned" on him just like a denizen would. He then refers to Grace as a void, which is incredibly similar to null as both have concepts to do with nothingness, further proving the connection he saw with Grace and his trauma. This is made clear when he then wanted to wheel Grace, just like what he'd do to a denizen.
After Grace saved his life from falling, for a second it is implied that Simon has a change of thought and heart for Grace. However, when Grace responds with "I don't know" to his surprise on why she saved him, he snaps and tries to completely obliterate her. His mind had become so sensitive to any sort of disregard to his own life, that he may have interpreted Grace's "I don't know" as proof that she is devoid of emotion just like denizens.
Some additional information about his character is that he is obviously very invading with boundaries as he is willing to go into Grace's personal memories and trap her in there for revenge on lying to him, along with invading her personal space physically. This is due most likely to his severe paranoia. He also shows many traits of codependency as he excessively relied on Grace for emotional and psychological support and flipped out when she couldn't provide it.
Although not blatantly stated in the series, Simon seems to genuinely care for the children's lives on the train including Grace's before his insanity breakdown. This may originate for his fight and the children's fight for the rebellion of "kidnapping" them as children, trapping them on the train. This cannot be said the same for denizens and people who have betrayed him. It's also clear that even at the brink of his worst moment ever, when he thought that he had murdered Grace, he briefly regretted it and transformed into maniacal insanity.
In conclusion, Simon has evident traits of various personality disorders. He has completely repressed any empathetic and sympathetic feelings for denizens, whom he believes are inherently evil due to the trauma of The Cat abandoning him. He expresses his emotions and concerns in an unclear way that gets shielded by attempted logic, as why his constant reminders of his life he's been living has been a lie has always ended up with denial. It's clear that he was a relatively untroubled young man, for his number was noticeably much lower than anyone who entered the train, and had been wronged by the train for his seemingly insignificant mistakes by the events of soul consuming hounds hunting him down when the car was supposed to help slightly troubled children.
Simon's hatred of denizens, hunger for power and lack of empathy leads to his downfall; as he was also successfully hunted down by the very thing that caused his trauma to begin with. In the end, Simon died as a killer obsessed with delusions and being right.
Biography[]
At some point at the age of ten, Simon ended up on the Infinity Train where he was friends with The Cat. However, after a mishap were the duo ended up in the Wasteland, Ghoms emerged to attack them they ran into the Box Car, and the Cat left Simon for dead. Grace rescued Simon and took him in to the Apex where he became the second-in-command of the group.
Book Two - Cracked Reflection[]
In "The Mall Car", Simon is tasked by Grace to monitor Lake. After she complains to him about the harsh treatment of Alan Dracula, Simon orders the Apex to "wheel" her. Eventually, Jesse manages to escape, but Lake is unfortunately unable to go with him as she is a denizen.
In "The Wasteland", Simon insults Jesse by stating that he was weak.
Book Three - Cult of the Conductor[]
In "The Musical Car", Simon raids the titular car with Grace and the Apex. He then accompanies Grace and the rest of the Apex in raiding the Unfinished car as the duo beat up the Turtle People. However, the car stated to move. Simon and Grace eventually escape but Grace's pack gets damaged during the escape and the duo head to a jungle car.
In "The Jungle Car", they encounter a little girl named Hazel and her gorilla companion Tuba as they manipulate Hazel into joining the Apex and to kill Tuba as she is a Null. Hazel refuses to go as long as Tuba goes with them, and the duo eventually agree to take Tuba with them on the trip, but agreed to kill her with the Apex later.
In "The Debutante Ball Car", a Chandelier man encourages Simon, Grace, Hazel, and Tuba to dance in order to get out of the car. Simon tries to find a way out but discovers there is no way out and that they have to play by the rules. Reluctantly, Simon and Grace agree to team up with Hazel and Tuba so they can dance to impress the Octopus People. It works and all four of them are able to move on to the next train. During this, Grace makes Hazel an honorary member of the Apex and harshly tells Tuba that she can't join the Apex as they move to the next train. As Simon bonds with Hazel, Grace notices how depressed Tuba is and starts to show a bit of sympathy towards her.
In "Le Chat Chalet Car", Simon and the rest of the group go to a cabin in the middle of a blizzard. There they come across the Cat and her compatriots Randall and Frank. Simon starts to freak out over the Cat's presence and forbids Hazel from talking to her. He eventually reveals that his first friend on the train was the Cat but she left him to die from the Ghoms until he was rescued by Grace. After calling armistice on the snowball fight by a group of Randalls by turning him into smoke, the blizzard ceases and the group is able to get back to the next car. Before Simon and the Cat leave they solemnly bid "Au revoir" to each other.
In "The Color Clock Car", as the group goes to the next car, Hazel starts to get tired and Simon tells her to wake up. After arguing with Tuba about the ordeal, Grace settles a compromise between the two by having Tuba carry Hazel while the group go onward to the Color Clock Car. There they meet a colorful clock named Roy that encourages the group to work together in order to escape. Simon is paired with Tuba much to their chagrin, but the duo eventually bond as they work together to find the Green Key. Eventually thanks to Tuba being colorblind, which gave her an advantage, they find the key just in time to unlock the red lock. As they are about to make their way onto the next train, the bridge separates Hazel and Tuba from Grace and Simon. Tuba successfully throws Hazel to Grace but Tuba stumbles over and clings on for dear life on the train. Simon volunteers to save Tuba while Grace and Hazel rush to the next train. However, when he gets to Tuba, he reveals his stomps on Tuba's dangling hand as he harshly tells her that she's not a real person like Roy said, sending Tuba falling off to her death in the train's wheels as the numbers on his arms goes up. Simon then outright confesses to Hazel that he murdered Tuba, causing the latter to burst into tears and run outside. Grace gets frustrated with Simon and notices a crying Hazel transforming into a turtle creature, much to her horror.
In "The Campfire Car", Grace berates Simon for disobeying her. He soon walks away from the titular car alongside Grace and Hazel after the two are done talking. He gets impatient with Hazel as she tries to find a spot for Tuba's funeral and starts to head outside, rudely stating to have the "pretend funeral" without him. Grace later shows sympathy towards Hazel's grief on Tuba's death as they bury the rainbow rock on a tree, causing it to lose its color after Hazel mournfully sings Tuba's song to it. They later regroup with Simon at the exit as the latter states that he'll name a character from his book after Hazel, to which she reluctantly thanks Simon for. They pass by Amelia as they head to the Golden Flying Snakes Car. Simon then sees the number cluster passing by them as they are in the Snake Car, and after seeing the off-screen glitch in the Campfire Car, Amelia heads back to the trio demanding to know what they did to the cars.
In "The Golden Flying Snakes Car", as Amelia explains that created a pulse that's currently ejecting cars, like the Unfinished and Color Clock, she exposes the numbers on her body, causing Simon to realize that she is the number cluster the scanner picked up. With the knowledge about the turtle glitch, the trio runs away from Amelia as the latter pursues them, losing them in a migratory pack of Flying Snakes as she warns them that the car is marked for ejection. While hiding in a cave, Simon demanded Grace to show her number to him but both the latter and Hazel angrily tell him to back off and give her some space. Simon shyly agrees as he heads outside while Grace comforts a frustrated Hazel. Annoyed, Simon heads back on his own to the Le Chat Chalet Car to make a deal with the Cat named Samantha on extracting a memory tape of Grace's secrets. Samantha the Cat warns Simon that it is unwise and dangerous to go into another person's memories as the latter tells her that he is not a child anymore and he heads outside.
In "The Hey, Ho, Whoa Car", Simon reunites with Grace and Hazel who teamed up with Amelia after she saved the duo from a Flying Snake. Simon immediately tries to attack Amelia, but is knocked back by a protective force field on her belt. Simon then angrily states that she has the mark of the real Conductor, a huge wavy robot with a robe, and that she is in cahoots with the false Conductor One-One. Amelia then laughs and states that she was the false Conductor and Grace calms down Simon as they head to the Hey, Ho, Whoa Car. As they get there, they have to wait for the pile of rocks to form a bridge in order to exit the car. While there, Simon and Amelia argue on the point of the Infinity Train with the former stating the point of the train is to get the highest number for dominance while the latter retorts the real point of the train is to get the number down so you can learn to be a better person and get through your problems. After Amelia insults Simon by calling him a child, he lashes out at the former, with little to no avail as her force field is blocking his attacks. Amelia warns Simon to not hurt her or she will use force as Hazel lets out a scream. All the stress caused her to transform into a turtle in front of the trio as Amelia realizes that Hazel is the anomaly that is causing the train cars to glitch and eject. Simon tries to manipulate Grace into ditching Hazel, and though he nearly succeeds in his plan, Grace realizes what she is doing and convinces Simon that it is safer to wait for the car to finish the rock stack as they sleep for the night. While Grace is asleep, Simon extracts the tape of Grace's memories and realizes that the former has been keeping Hazel's turtle form a secret from him, leaving Simon crestfallen and betrayed.
In "The Origami Car", Simon shows little regard in Hazel's decision to stay with Amelia after Grace sadly bids the two farewell. Simon then torments Grace by trapping her in her own memories and revealing his tragic past. Afterwards, Simon leaves Grace trapped in the tape and decides to go back to the Apex alone.
In the Book Three finale "The New Apex", After Grace escaped from her memories, Simon usurps her and leads the Apex calling her a void that has less numbers than the Apex as he goes mad with power. Simon fights Grace and while trying to kick her, his right gravity shoe cracks and the rails get dislodged. Both of them nearly lose their grip though Grace dangles on one of the train's rails and Simon uses his shoes to dangle underneath the bridge. A Ghom that attacked the duo was about to suck Grace's soul and Simon simultaneously attempted to pull Grace down the tracks, but she punches his left leg, takes off his left gravity shoe and throws it at the Ghom's mouth, distracting it and climbing back up to safety. The power on Simon's right gravity shoe goes out and he nearly falls to his death but Grace saves him in the nick of time.
Despite this heroic act that Grace did, Simon kicks Grace off the bridge, much to the shock of the other Apex members as Simon starts crying, eventually degenerating into maniacally crying and laughing at the same time as his numbers starts to cover his whole body. Luckily, the Origami Birds save Grace and drop her back at the entrance of the Mall Car.
Unknowing of her survival, Simon is attacked by a returning Ghom (the same creature he escaped from when he first arrived on the train). It pounces on Simon, painfully sucking out his soul as a sobbing Simon struggles. As Simon dies in unimaginable agony, his body melts into green goo, revealing his skeleton which further disintegrates into dust; the victorious Ghom then subsequently explodes. This avenges Tuba and all of the other denizens who were hurt and/or killed by Simon. Despite all the horrible things he did, Grace and the Apex grieve over his loss, Grace collecting the ashes of her former best friend and sobbing over them. She later decides to disband the Apex for the better and not make the same mistakes as Simon did.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Simon Laurent and his role were inspired by Peter Pan. Additionally, a character from Lord of the Flies, also named Simon, loses his sanity as well.
- Simon is one of few Infinity Train villains that successfully kills off a major character.
- Simon has one of the most violent and gruesome death out of any Cartoon Network villain, as the Ghom sucked his soul as his flesh melted off, exposing his skeleton as it too fell apart into ashes.
- His graphic death resulted in executive trouble for the series, as it briefly went on hiatus due to concerns of it being too dark for children.
- Simon was the third main villain in Infinity Train to be killed on screen. The first two were Agents Mace and Sieve from Book 2.
- Unlike Mace and Sieve, Simon wasn't killed by a main protagonist. His death was also more tortuous than any other character in the series.
- If one pays attention to the details in book 3, Simon's aggressive behavior is akin to an abusive boyfriend/father who wants to control everything. In addition, Hazel's behavior to become "Tuba" and protecting Grace bears a resemblance to a protective daughter trying to save her mother from him whenever he invades her personal space.
- Simon was writing a fantasy novel trilogy called The Esmoroth Trilogy. Shortly before his death, he had finished the first book, Rise of the True King.
- Unlike the other protagonists, Simon's pre-train backstory is never fully revealed, though is alluded to.
- Simon serves as the dark counterpart to Grace, if she had never learned to repent from her actions.
External Links[]
- Simon Laurent on the Infinity Train Wiki
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 Villains
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