This is a for-serious question -- is that cowcatcher on his chest and his head just disappears somehow, or is it on his head and he's always leaning forward so much that it just looks like it's on his chest? Because if you look at his official pic:
I'd have to say his head's disappeared. If he were just leaning forward, we'd see the back of his neck, but there's no neck. His shoulders just meet where the neck should have been. I'm honestly confused.
I'm fairly sure that he's so hulkingly huge that it just looks like he has no head. His muscles and body may have expanded, but his head must still be around the same size. The grill was designed as a for m of head protection, but with it's placement it just looks like he has no head.
I assume he's got massive shoulders and is leaning foward so that his neck is horizontal, as in a statue of Atlas with the earth on his back. He likes to literally charge into battle, and that cowcatcher probably makes a good battering ram. So he uses his head in combat.
I agree that with the genetic manipulation his back and shoulders are simpy so huge that his head is lower than that part of his body. The grill is then over his head. I thought there was some art that showed this… Maybe EoW Bunker?
That or he's been genetically modified so that his head is in his chest, making him freaky and disturbing so foes run from fear. Frightened, as it were
OK, so what I'm going to take from all of this is (a) it's not just me who thinks Fright Train's head situation is ambiguous at best, and (b) no one (here) actually knows what the real answer is as to what's going on with the Fright Noggin. I kind of expected to be bombarded with a bunch of "he's obviously just hunching over, as seen on this card and this card and this card" replies, but that didn't happen. The (kind of odd) mystery continues.
Don't worry, I'm more than happy to prove you wrong with art… as soon as I have cards specific to him that will provide me with a large enough sample size
And I can be the 'quote-guy' and give you this piece of his bio on the main SotM site.
"Eventually, Graves was hired by a secret security force, but as part of his contract, he was chemically and mechanically enhanced, making him even more of a colossal force to be reckoned with. He was outfitted with a massive helmet resembling the front of a large train, which led to Graves being called "Fright Train"."
So if it's a helmet, it would go on his shoulders. But it's never on his shoulders, it's always on his chest, which would make you think he's leaning forward. But I'm pretty sure Adam knows how to draw necks on characters who are leaning forward, of which Fright Train seems to have none, so in my mind, the mystery is still decidedly un-solved.
For me, I am kinda thinking it is less "helmet" in the traditional sense, and more like very large ski goggles. This would nicely explain the Train Gaurd resting not only on his face/head but also on his chest.
Edit: Actually, we can see exactly how his Helmet functions based off the art found in his Bio. The Helmet is attached to two tracks that are strapped around his shoulders and back. You can see gears on either side of the Train Guard that act as the locking/movement mechanism. It seems like Fright Train can move his helmet into an up position, protecting his face, or in a down position, probably affording him better vision and less strain (if any at all) on his shoulders. It is totally more of a "mask" than it is a "helmet", as it does not encase Fright Trains entire head, just his face. The back of his head is left exposed with the Train Guard in the "up" position.
So then where's his head and neck in his official pic? Your explanation would suggest that when it's on his chest, his head/face should be visible. Instead, his head and neck has disappeared completely.
He's leaning froward in that pic. You see the back cleavage between the straps? Thats his shoulder blades. When the mask is on his chest, it's flat against it and pointing down. When it covers his head, it points forward. Flak Cannon is the best representation, I think. The mirror on Engine of War Bunker's incap side shows the 'at rest' mask position.
That stance would be impossible to achieve. He is still largely upright, for the shoulders to go above the back of your head that far he would have to be nearly horizontal, but he isn't.
I will continue with my stance that his head relocates down like the old transformers did, to fit their head in when they went to vehicle mode, either that or it actually fuses into his chest so he can ram things without injuring his neck.
It's a bit of a shout out to the headless horseman, only this one would be the headless engineer of the train of fright.
If he were leaning forward in that pic, we should be looking at the tops of his shoulders. But instead, we're looking at the fronts of his shoulders as you'd expect if he were standing upright in a very slight action-ey crouch. That is a headless man.
Update: he's standing completely upright in this pic, and while it's partially obscured by the Vengeance logo, you can see some lightning crackling where his head should have been. Likewise, he's upright in this pic too, sans noggin.
Ladies and gentlemen, what we have here is a freak of nature, a human chicken who can operate without a head. Hopefully he's also like a human gecko so that thing will grow back.
Personally, I think his physical structure was altered in a way that he can bend his head down without great effort, maybe rotating his shoulders around to lower his head.
(I mean this in the best possible way:) What's especially funny to me is that, in actual comics, we see women in impossible poses that contort their bodies to ensure certain body parts are visible to the (generally male) reader, but we don't actually concern ourselves with that. But one guy can bend his head down and we're confused and asking questions about his anatomy.
