The Everything Thomas Topic

[TrainFan97]

If characters like Stepney, BoCo and Duke do return in the reboot, hope for Bachmann making those characters will be restored. All three of them will most likely be made 100% based on their model series designs, including their faces. Whichever one gets made in HO Scale first would be the first engine made based on a model series design since Duck, with Duke as another engine for Narrow Gauge. BoCo was shafted from Season 22, but the reboot will be his chance. He can be the third larger diesel for the HO Scale range. For now, we got Diesel 10 coming. He was announced just recently.

If we get the mail car in N Scale, it has to be made like how we're familiar with. Not the reboot design. The toy-like rolling stock in the reboot is off-putting.

[Chaz]

I haven't really talked too much about the new reboot, as it seems pretty clear that Mattel continues to rebrand Thomas into something that it isn't. This is now the third time in a row where they've felt the need to reinvent Thomas into something completely different from what the franchise traditionally was.

I feel like All Engines Go left a pretty sour taste in many fans' mouths, and any positive reception I've seen toward this new reboot seems to boil down to, "At least it's better than AEG." Had All Engines Go never happened, I can almost guarantee that the reaction to this reboot would be considerably more negative. Even compared to BWBA, this feels like a significant nosedive, particularly with some of the cartoony character and rolling stock designs and the child actors portraying some of the characters.

That being said, there is one thing I really do want to emphasize: I'm glad Bachmann has publicly stated that they aren't going to get involved with making new products from this reboot. Personally I think that's the best approach, otherwise, it would just be history repeating itself with Bachmann's short-lived Chuggington line.

I think the most likely outcome for this new show is that it lasts three or four seasons, much like BWBA and AEG, before Mattel pulls the plug and moves on to the next Thomas rebrand they make. If/when that happens, Bachmann may as well continue sticking with what has already been working rather than taking a shot in the dark on characters and designs whose appeal could ultimately be short-term rather than long-term.

As long as Bachmann continues prioritizing characters with long-term appeal, like Hiro and Whiff, a new HO James, and N scale models of Edward and Duck, while keeping the designs consistent, then that's really all I (as I'm sure many others), could ask for as a fan who's just as passionate about the hobby as I am about the Thomas brand as a whole.