Ranking Bachmanns Next Engine

[Chaz]

Mattel might have a tighter leash on what Bachmann can make. This can explain recolors and face changing engines.

Whether or not the new cars are based on CGI or the classic series.

Yeah, I also think that Mattel seems to have this control over Bachmann, but I've been told before that it supposedly isn't as much as most people think it is, but I'm not sure how much I believe that.

"Believe" what you will, but if something is too expensive for Bachmann to produce, which would go against larger and more colorful characters Mattel would be in favor of, like Rebecca, then Bachmann would probably not even bother considering her due to her size and pricing.  For most of the recent rolling stock choices, yes I have no doubt Mattel had a higher voice in those choices, and same could probably be said for Grumpy Diesel too since these wouldn't nearly affect any sort of budget in their production, being recolors and all.  I personally don't agree with those choices but that was discussed before in another thread.  But moving back to the spiteful brake van... despite being a recolor, it doesn't really sound like a choice Mattel would suggest or even consider promoting and was announced, more likely than not, due to requests from fans.  

And going two steps further back with Stepney, Duck was announced a year before he returned into full CGI and despite this was based on his classic series model.  This would also work in the case of Stepney as I mentioned before, and I would think he would have a higher chance of coming back on top of that considering the amount of Awdry characters who have returned so far.  And considering what Sparks said in his earlier post just now about the Hornby model, the sales for a Bachmann Stepney would be there as the Duck and Oliver sales have proved that nostalgic fan favorites always seem to make their way onto the bestsellers list.

[Cheeky_ULP]

People on Twitter have pointed out there's a good chance that Wood might be discontinued. I imagine if the Wood range flopped, then Mattel might be better off letting Bachmann just do what Bachmann does best, rather than try to intervene and risk trying to break something else that doesn't need fixing.

[Rodimus Supreme]

People on Twitter have pointed out there's a good chance that Wood might be discontinued. I imagine if the Wood range flopped, then Mattel might be better off letting Bachmann just do what Bachmann does best, rather than try to intervene and risk trying to break something else that doesn't need fixing.

That is very completely true (about the Mattel leaving Bachmann alone thing), but this is Mattel we're talking about...

[Trainboy 48]

I think there are 2 reasons why they should make Stanley:
1. Like Chaz said, tank engines are easy to make.
2. Since a few years ago hornby has released new products of the town Great Waterton and made shed for Stanley, however they never made him while they were making the new products of buildings.
So I really hope they make him next year too.

I definitely agree with Chaz on Stepney. I feel he would be great as the next engine added to the range. However, another character I would love to see is Stanley.


I feel he would have been a better choice for Bachmann to make last year instead of Rosie. As you said he doesn't have two much nostalgia, but he stands out and is the size Bachmann seems to like. I wouldn't be shocked to see him get announced within the next few years.

[Chaz]

A thought I had just recently regarding Nia and her odds of happening.

Bachmann has made smaller engines in recent years, but as far as tank engines go, Nia is actually pretty lengthy, having four extra wheels more than the average tank engine character on the show.  To top it off, besides her livery not only looking atrocious and complex to work with, her overall design just has a lot of details Bachmann that could work with, possibly making her too expensive for Bachmann to pull off.

With tank engines discussed earlier like Stanley or Stepney, they have a lot more basic shapes and designs to work with as well as having a smaller number of details to work with. 

So besides Rebecca being ruled out because of her size, maybe we can rule out Nia too because of how complex her overall design.  The fact that she has a negative response so far from the fandom is only going to spill salt on the wound if she were to ever be announced. 

What are everyone's thoughts though?  Do you think it's fair to say we can rule out Nia too?

[metal4life]

I think Stanley is a very weak possibility compared to all the characters requested for next year so far. He's not played any sort of major role in the series for quite a few years (a decade?), and though he is occasionally requested he doesn't exactly fit the list of nostalgic characters that most collectors and modelers could mention off the top of their heads.

It looks like we're almost through with the nostalgic batch of characters, and really Stepney and Daisy I feel would complete the era of "back catalog" that we've all watched Bachmann produce over the years (if you choose not to include BoCo). Granted, Daisy's reintroduction to the series has certainly boosted her popularity and makes her an overall more realistic contender than Stepney, but I absolutely agree with the statement of him selling ridiculously good.


With Nia I do think it's fair to rule her out this early in the game, depending how involved or distant Mattel are with Bachmann's marketing or however their license agreement works. I haven't kept up much with the series for a couple years so I have no clue how any of that is handled at this point. Along with her complexities, she doesn't really have a solid presence in the series just yet, does she? Seems pretty safe to say that we won't be expecting her in the product line for perhaps another year, if ever at all depending on how her role is handled (if that's the basis of a character's likelihood to be produced).

[DecadesofSun]

Haven't gone back through everyone else's earlier posts, so I'm just going to jot down a few thoughts at random; apologies if these have already been addressed.

I don't think Nia's coming anytime soon, thank God. Not just as a matter of her semi-complex and ugly design, but as a matter of practicality. Notice how much Bach's been skimping on the goods in favor of economics in recent years. We haven't gotten a large-size loco since Spencer, who came out over a decade ago. Nia would be probably around the same size as Duck, perhaps a bit longer, so I don't think it's the size that would drag her down; more likely than that, she'd be pushed out of consideration based on Bachmann not caring about the "main fleet". Why was Spencer introduced before Edward? Why was Salty brought in before Oliver? Why was Rosie announced before someone more popular and organic to the brand like Daisy? Because the company follows their bottom line and that leads them away from doing things in a concentric order, thus preventing them from adding characters in order of introduction or relevance.

If the company were concerned with keeping up the main fleet by introducing Nia and Rebecca, we should have first seen a precedent of them starting with the main characters from the get-go, not waiting to introduce some of them so long that the latest one is a crappy CGI design that looks nothing like the original model. So we could have gotten them from the start of the range more or less as:

-Main 7
-Emily
-8-11
-Other Awdry creations (B&B, Mavis, Diesel)
-Show characters
-Nia/Rebecca once Mattel stepped in

Spread that out over however many years you want, and you more or less arrive at the list we're at now. Instead we've been given characters all over the chronological map, with some (Rosie, Diesel 2.0, Paxton, Salty, Spencer etc.) having arrived long before far more in-demand friends were ever considered (Oliver, Stepney, Daisy, BoCo etc.) For this reason I'm still guessing Stanley's in the pipes for the near future. I think Rebecca's out on account of how expensive she'd be, Nia probably won't show up until Mattel assesses how popular the character actually is, and I don't think Bachmann is out to bless us with favorites like some think they are. So realistically? Expect more six-wheel tank engines (Stanley, Charley, Stepney *if* someone somewhere decides to be amazing) and small diesels with oversized bodies. Just my thought.

(Still hoping for Splodge even though it will never happen)...

[Chaz]

Going back to Sidney actually, after reviewing the Bachmann Paxton model, I realized that while Paxton's face issue may have been apparent, the idea of doing Sidney with his face sounds even worse considering the shape of his face and how much smaller his eyes are.

Despite being a recolor, I honestly think a Sidney model would do more harm than good, even if he is a recolor.  The production behind the model, as well as his small/non-existent following tells me that he's not worth Bachmann's time and money.

[Angelob6660]

That seem true about Sidney. I can't really remember him in the show. I believe he was in like three episodes?

The only episode I noticed Sidney was in The Missing Christmas Decorations.

By looking up Sidney he's in 13 episodes and movies with 5 cameos. So I believe is he a unforgettable character.

[Cheeky_ULP]

I think after how Paxton turned out, Bachmann might be better off on skipping further 08s for now.

If they made Sidney down the road, I don't think I'd be as interested in his outcome, since I don't hold a personal attachment to him.

Either way, if they wanted to milk other toolings, I could think of a handful of possibilities off the top of my head. At the same time I'd rather see Stepney or Daisy come out for the HO range, so I'd rather not give ideas that would hinder that.

[TrainFan97]

I would MUCH rather have Stepney or Daisy over Sidney. The fact that there's Grumpy Diesel means that another Class 08 just wouldn't be interesting. Unlike Sidney, people actually have an attachment to Paxton.

Stepney and Daisy are two much higher priorities. Hopefully, one of them gets announced in 2019.