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+--- Thread: The end of Thomas and friends from Plarail? (/thread-1005.html)
RE: The end of Thomas and friends from Plarail? - Off The Rails - 10-20-2020
Chrisjo makes some good points about the appearance of the toys vs the characters in the series. I’ll add that it took Takara Tomy several years to rework all the locomotives to look closer to their CGI versions and it didn’t seem to affect the license.
Let’s also keep in mind the Mattel has spent the last several years floundering around with Thomas. They keep trying to reinvent the series and the toy lines with well, mixed results. I don’t see this reboot having much appeal to the existing fandom, as it seems designed for the preschoolers who watch Bubble Guppies and Paw Patrol. It might turn out to be the “home run” hit Mattel so desperately needs but I suspect that within a couple years, we’ll be seeing yet another reboot when they realize they’ve lost the 5-8 year old toy buyers (not to mention the adult fans and collectors). Given the lead time licensees need to retool, it might be over before companies like Takara Tomy and Bachmann can even react!
RE: The end of Thomas and friends from Plarail? - Mister No - 11-29-2020
I didn't think there would be a good reason to redesign the engines after the 2021 reboot starts, but now I'm wondering... If the engines (and everything else) will be very different in the show, wouldn't that affect the model trains?
I was reading the report with the excerpts from the interview (Nov 22nd) with one of the directors of the new series, Campbell Bryer, and there were some interesting things being said there:
Mattel said ‘we don't want to use wheels as hands’, but we ARE allowed to be more cartoony, stretchy, they can pop the trains off the track and jump to turn 360* ... so we're definitely not locked to the track.
Our version is - I don't want to say wacky, but a bit more stretchy, toony.
The core group of trains come across more as kids in the new show. World of the Island of Sodor becomes a giant playground for them.
The Island of Sodor was originally off the coast of England (...) This island is very diverse, you have desert canyons, lush countryside, seaside towns, industrial mining towns, etc. (...) The island is the playground for these kids. It's a real toony show, lots of stretch and squash.
The trains are the characters, they're NOT driven by humans. (...) Thomas doesn't need a driver to make him jump or flip over the mine cars.
The moderator went on to discuss the way that the model and CGI series had maintained that Thomas and the other engines would behave and work the way that a real life locomotive would – and that the new 2D series would likely depart from this concept and move into a whole new world of crazy antics and adventures, which would lend itself to a new means of storytelling.
Our trains move much more freely, they stretch and we have more opportunities for fun scenarios. They're more like kids. The only adult train who really interacts with kids is Gordon, who's a father figure in the show.
It's more about kids than trains. We're focusing more on fun, less on the operations of a trainyard and working with the adults. In our version the island is a playground, they can jump and spin and do wacky things but it still has that real charming effect to it.
****
I agree with the conclusion of the article:
It’s definitely going to be a universe away from the Rev. Awdry’s stories of “something that happened to some engine, at some time or another”.
The entire article is HERE.
****
So there you have it. Sodor will be no Sodor anymore, it will be just any island; trains will be without the drivers, show without the Narrator, Sir Topham Hatt without an English accent, trains behaving like children (Gordon excepted) etc. This is really shocking. I bet they will toss the title "the Fat Controller", it wouldn't be politically correct!
Will the new models look different too? The trains in the show will jump, flip over, spin, go off the track and jump to turn 360°. Hillarious. I'm sure Mattel will do exactly that with their toys; they already have crazy sets with walking bridges, flying engines and whatnot. Remember, now the engines are "toony", they are actually more little children than trains, so they'll look like little children jumping on their playground, it will be not important that they are... trains! Who cares about the tracks, they will be popping of the rails, spin and jump around! There will be some new crazy Mattel sets, but knowing all that, shouldn't we expect newly designed trains too? I don't really care what Mattel is doing, but what effect will that have on Tomy Plarail Thomas & Friends trains? Only time will tell.
In the meantime, I'm re-reading Rev. Awdry's 26 original little books. I'm not a parent, but if I were one, that are the stories I'd read to my kids.
RE: The end of Thomas and friends from Plarail? - Collin Joe - 11-29-2020
Somehow, I don't see this reboot even lasting very long.
RE: The end of Thomas and friends from Plarail? - DuckGWR - 11-29-2020
I believe Mattel has already ordered over 100 episodes to be produced, unfortunately
RE: The end of Thomas and friends from Plarail? - Super - 11-29-2020
Hmmm...my first thought was: How will a new cartoony look for the characters affect future Plarail releases. Does their License express that they follow the new show? Another first thought was....Chuggington.
RE: The end of Thomas and friends from Plarail? - FfarquharDeveloper - 11-29-2020
SPEAKING of Chuggington, I was talking to Tyler the Eevee 2 weeks ago about a similar thing, if/(probably) when the reboot ends up as a complete dumpster fire. Plarail might can the Thomas range since no new episodes will be coming out just like the Chuggington range. However, it might not be the end as there wasn't always a new season every year during the early days of the range, but then again it could really just be the end since there probably won't be any new episodes after the dumpster fire reboot and will probably only exist to sell toys. After which then Plarail might can the Thomas range (or not could depend on sales).
RE: The end of Thomas and friends from Plarail? - Mister No - 11-29-2020
(11-29-2020, 07:31 AM)Super Wrote: Hmmm...my first thought was: How will a new cartoony look for the characters affect future Plarail releases.
Exactly. That was my first thought, too. I'm almost certain Mattel will follow their own show, and make their models and sets accordingly. They are supervising the cartoon making. Mr. Bryer from Nelvana said: “Sometimes we'd pitch things and they'd say "that wouldn't work on a toy track" so we wouldn't do it. We were really given the freedom to try something new, basically 'do what you want and we'll tell you if you're going too far.' "
The only thing that we don't know is what would Tomy do. It very well could be the matter of License, as you said, Super.
But if the show looks like this:
![[Image: NEW-THOMAS.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/GppHwgKW/NEW-THOMAS.jpg)
shouldn't the models look something like this?
![[Image: NEW-THOMAS2.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/CK6dFC6z/NEW-THOMAS2.jpg)
RE: The end of Thomas and friends from Plarail? - Super - 11-29-2020
This doesn't affect me as it does for so many here at BPT but I am sure glad that Plarails bread and butter is not Thomas but models after real trains.
RE: The end of Thomas and friends from Plarail? - Off The Rails - 11-29-2020
Man, that’s rather grim. Mattel bought the license to retain control over the merchandising. The merchandising has crashed because they’ve handled the marketing badly. Now, they go full scorched Earth reboot and alienate existing fans.
I suspect in another two years, Thomas goes on a long term hiatus and/or they look for a buyer to salvage the property. What you probably won’t likely see is someone sitting down and realizing what made the story work in the first place. No one will ask where did we or they fail, because the answer isn’t something they want to hear.
By the time the reboot shows up next year, my kids will have aged out of the target market. It’s bittersweet for me but I imagine this marks the end of my kids’ involvement with Thomas. The more preschool aimed reboot definitely won’t appeal to them.
RE: The end of Thomas and friends from Plarail? - Trainboy90 Productions - 11-30-2020
In my opinion, if there's no more new episodes, I think they should rerelease older characters like Duck, Donald and Douglas, Oliver, Bill and Ben, & Diesel in CGI form.