I'm definitely a fan of the newly announced 12 ton vans, especially because they are likely going to be new toolings. I've always liked the vans in N and large scale, so it'll be nice to see a similar equivalent to that with HO with some liveries and decals that were not present in any of the other scales prior.
In terms of Troublesome Truck #7, while I wouldn't rule out the 12 ton van being the the tooling they use, I do think a model era face would be nice. Not only are model era faces more expressive but they're also more distinctive from each other. The CGI faces all look almost exactly the same from each other, with even more minor differences.
While I do think them going the CGI route is inevitable, I feel that the faces that were shared earlier are much better candidates. Given that Mattel seems to care more for CGI designs as of late though, I'm not going to get my hopes up.
Then again, if Mattel approved a season 4 face on one of the Trackmaster toys a few years ago, then what do I know. I'd love to be proven wrong.
In terms of Troublesome Truck #7, while I wouldn't rule out the 12 ton van being the the tooling they use, I do think a model era face would be nice. Not only are model era faces more expressive but they're also more distinctive from each other. The CGI faces all look almost exactly the same from each other, with even more minor differences.
While I do think them going the CGI route is inevitable, I feel that the faces that were shared earlier are much better candidates. Given that Mattel seems to care more for CGI designs as of late though, I'm not going to get my hopes up.
Then again, if Mattel approved a season 4 face on one of the Trackmaster toys a few years ago, then what do I know. I'd love to be proven wrong.