Doomtrain (グラシャラボラス, Gurasha Raborasu^?, lit. "Glasya Labolas") is a summon appearing only in Final Fantasy VIII, as a Guardian Force. Doomtrain's starting level is 28 at HP equal to 2,521.

AttackEdit

Doomtrain's attack, Runaway Train (果てしなき暴走, Hateshinaki Bōsō), is Poison-elemental and can inflict several abnormal statuses on the enemy: Sleep, Poison, Darkness, Silence, Slow, Stop, Berserk, Confuse, Doom, Petrifying, and Vit 0.

Doomtrain's summon time is 22.9s, which, according to the Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania, allows the player to boost its damage to around 240% of normal damage using a regular PlayStation controller. Its damage is calculated as follows:^[1]

Elemental Defense starts at 800 (0%), 900 nullifies damage and 1000 absorbs it. If an enemy is shown to be weak against an element, its Elemental Defense is below 800. If damage becomes negative (due to high Elemental Defense), the target is healed by that amount.

CompatibilityEdit

AbilitiesEdit

Abilities learned naturally by Doomtrain are listed below:

Ability	AP	Prerequisite	Ability	AP	Prerequisite
Elem-Atk-J	(Already learned)		SumMag+10%	40	None
ST-Atk-J	(Already learned)		SumMag+20%	70	SumMag+10%
Elem-Def-Jx4	180	None	SumMag+30%	140	SumMag+20%
ST-Def-Jx4	180	None	SumMag+40%	200	SumMag+30%
Magic	(Already learned)		GFHP+10%	40	None
GF	(Already learned)		GFHP+20%	70	GFHP+10%
Draw	(Already learned)		GFHP+30%	140	GFHP+20%
Item	(Already learned)		GFHP+40%	200	GFHP+30%
Darkside	100	None	Boost	10	None
Absorb	80	None	Junk Shop	(Already learned)
Auto-Shell	250	None	Forbid Med-RF	200	None

Obtaining DoomtrainEdit

To obtain Doomtrain, the player must have the Solomon Ring and at least 6 Steel Pipes, 6 Remedy+, and 6 Malboro Tentacles. The player can find hints on obtaining Doomtrain in a magazine called Occult Fan. Once all the items have been collected, Doomtrain will join automatically when Solomon's Ring is used in the inventory. This can be accomplished as early as Disc 3.

Solomon's Ring can be found in Tears' Point, near the foot of the giant statue. Steel Pipes can be mugged from Wendigos or refined from Elastoid cards. Remedy+ can be obtained by refining 10 Remedies with Alexander's Med-Lv Up ability (must learn Med Data first), and Malboro Tentacles are obtained by defeating or mugging Malboros. One can also use Quezacotl's Card Mod ability to refine a Malboro Tentacle from four Malboro cards.

When the Solomon's Ring is selected in the inventory, Doomtrain will call out:
'You called upon me?'
'I am...' (at which point the player names the GF)
'I shall become your ally'

Triple TriadEdit

Doomtrain
	Element	Poison
	Refine	1 refines into 3 Status Guard
	Drop	n/a
	Card	n/a
Level 9 (GF Card)	Win	Part of Queen of Cards side quest; win from pub owner in Timber.

GalleryEdit

Menu portrait artwork by Tetsuya Nomura.

Concept sketch by Tetsuya Nomura.

Artwork by Tetsuya Nomura.

Doomtrain

Doomtrain ready to run over its target.

EtymologyEdit

Its Japanese name, Glasya-Labolas, refers to a demon count/president mentioned in the the 17th century Grimoire, The Lesser Key of Solomon. Doomtrain is obtained from the Solomon's Ring.

Doomtrain is called Helltrain in French and Spanish and Kharonte in Italian.

In the debug menu, accessible only via a cheat device, a menu refers to Doomtrain as "Death Express." This may suggest it was Doomtrain's intended name, but it was over the character limit - likewise, Pandemona is referred to as "Pandemonium."

TriviaEdit

• Doomtrain resembles, and some have speculated that it may have been inspired by, the Phantom Train boss in Final Fantasy VI. Besides the obvious similarities in name and appearance, the two also have the same power to inflict many detrimental status ailments on enemies.
• The 6 Malboro Tentacles, 6 Steel Pipes, and 6 Remedy+ are a reference to the Number of the Beast.
• In Final Fantasy XI, Glasyalabolas was the name of the Japanese PC beta server, keeping with the game's theme of naming its severs after summons in the series.
• The concept of a sentient and evil train is possibly a reference to "Blaine the Mono" (or at least bears a strong resemblance to the character), from Stephen King's Dark Tower book series.
• It seems that Doomtrain's wheel configuration is the same as the Phantom Train's one 4-0-4.
• Doomtrain has an arm in his steam calculator nearby his smokebox.

ReferenceEdit