Special New Thomas & Friends Products Announcement

[Trainboy 48]

How bout Butch

[Sodor Engineer]

I think that if Bachmann were to make a non-rail character it would be Jack cuz the new Thomas and friends movie is having Jack as a main character.

Or they could make Ace the sports car.

that's a good idea [but I don't really like ace] and Jack is a classic character.

[Angelob6660]

I think that if Bachmann were to make a non-rail character it would be Jack cuz the new Thomas and friends movie is having Jack as a main character.

Or they could make Ace the sports car.

that's a good idea [but I don't really like ace] and Jack is a classic character.

I'm not into Ace or Jack. I latter have Sir Topham Hatt's blue car. Since he had two different vehicles that looked the same I wouldn't care which one they make.

[Chaz]

I think like the resin buildings, Bachmann hasn't made another road character due to the fact that the market for that probably isn't very high.  Especially when the average person would use a Bandai or ERTL if they really wanted either Trevor or Bulgy on their layout.

[TrainFan97]

I also thought the market for non-rail characters just isn't high enough. If Bachmann ever does make another one, it should be Trevor or Bulgy. ERTL and Bandai TECS models are hard to come by these days.

Daisy was the first new tooling announced for HO Scale in three years. More engines with popular demand are a higher priority than road vehicles, due to having the greater market. Stepney and BoCo are two classic characters that have yet to appear in full CGI, but Stepney is the one with the most popular demand. BoCo's demand isn't as high as Stepney's, but now that Bachmann is making their first large diesel in the Thomas range, BoCo might have a better chance than before, even though he hasn't appeared in the show for two decades. Unlike Stepney, Hornby never made BoCo. Both would be very popular sellers. The only problem with Diesel 10 is his claw "Pinchy" which has been stated numerous times would breech the NMRA standards, which would be problematic for Bachmann. Daisy still remains the only large diesel from the classic series (other than Diesel 10) to appear in the CGI series.

[TerencetheTractor525]

Looking closely at comments and messages I have received through social media, I think that you guys are right that a road character would not sell as well as Stepney, or even BoCo for that matter. Some fans are interested, but it's not near the amount of fans who are interested in seeing Stepney.

Once more, I am hoping that the 75th Anniversary is a good reason to give Mattel on making Stepney, as they generally want Bachmann to produce characters from the CGI era. Thus, I think that announcing him in February 2020 would be a wise move even if he would have to be delayed like Oliver.

At the end of the day, I want Bachmann to make models that would not only make the majority of Thomas fans happy, but also give them the best profit .

[TrainFan97]

Mattel has allowed Bachmann to make rolling stock from the classic series, like the Spiteful Brake Van. Hopefully in the near future, Mattel would let Bachmann make engines from the classic series like Stepney and/or BoCo, which have yet to appear in full CGI, but are still loved by classic fans to this day. Bachmann knows classic sells. One can only hope Mattel approves those characters, if they ever loosen up to the idea.

[Sodor Engineer]

hopefully one day MATTEL (if they get there act together)will start bringing back THE CLASSIC CHARACTERS and then Bachmann would have more characters to chose from.

[Cheeky_ULP]

The CGI redesigns would make them lose their appeal, in my opinion. I'd rather the remaining classics stay classics, at this point.

[Rodimus Supreme]

I'm also a comic book nerd, so I also keep up with Mattel's DC Comics offerings (which will change come next spring as Mattel lost most of their DC licenses and they'll no longer be making anything I care about once that change occurs), and I'm telling you right now, the only way we'll get this ideal future for the brand is if Mattel loses the Thomas and Friends franchise entirely to someone else who actually knows what they're doing.

[TerencetheTractor525]

While I see where everyone is coming from, I think that we should try to keep the forum in positive spirits after seeing that Daisy, Peter Sam, and Troublesome Truck #6 are getting made.

That doesn't mean that we can't still hope that Stepney will get announced in February

[Sodor Engineer]

Right you are

[Metal]

The CGI redesigns would make them lose their appeal, in my opinion. I'd rather the remaining classics stay classics, at this point.

It's really a double-edged sword, some have benefited with added detail and proportions, such as The First 5 NG Engines and Daisy, while some have diminished like Oliver and Duncan.

[TerencetheTractor525]

That's a good point. I could see Mattel doing a good job on CGI designs of BoCo and Duke, but I think that Stepney would not turn out well from the face to new details that would be added.

That's why Stepney is the one exception that should be made for the Bachmann line. The classic model series design has so much charm to it and the face is one of my favorites: https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/Bowled_Out/Gallery?file=File%3ABowledOut4.png

[Chaz]

Looking back on Daisy's announcement, it's clear Bachmann really had to choose one of the "Big two" demands from fans since they clearly wanted to go for a character that was going to be sell extremely well like Oliver or a narrow gauge engine which is something Rosie or Paxton could never do since there is nowhere near as much nostalgia for these characters as there are classic characters.  Clearly, Daisy's CGI appearances made her that much more of an iconic/appealing character and thus made her the more desirable choice from Bachmann and Mattel over Stepney.  Despite this, I say Stepney still has a pretty reasonable shot all things considered once Daisy is released so there's that much more hope on my end going for him.

In the meantime, I am honestly more than happy getting nothing but recolors (with the exception of narrow gauge brake vans) while Daisy and Peter Sam are in production.  Just knowing that we are getting models of one of the most popularly requested engines in HO as well as the most popularly requested narrow gauge engine in the process is more than enough to have me convinced that we are in good hands with Bachmann for the time being.