Personally, I much prefer the regular updates and more active social media involvement Bachmann has leaned into the last few years over the annual, sometimes bi-annual update on the range that we used to get from the New York Toy Fair for most of the Bachmann Thomas community's existence. Bachmann has also been much more transparent in recent years about the ifs and whys about why certain products can or can't be made, which I respect them for. Social media has changed drastically in the last decade or so, and to me this kind of communication and engaging with customers is a big key towards Bachmann evolving with the times.

Personally I would put Hiro above any other (solo tooling) newbies... I feel like he's one of the most popular characters of the CGI era, and him having a RTR model feels just as long overdue as Stanley's.

Quote from: Awesometrain77 on November 26, 2024, 08:47:48 PMSo I just saw the Rebecca video from Bachmann they released today and Salty is heavily featured in the video . Pulling the brand new LNER 12 ton van gray . Good news for salty however, this is the older model so idk how to feel about this . Hopefully we see salty come back to the line next year .

Salty is probably his older model because that's the model they have running on the Thomas layout.

Sir Handel being based more on Sir Haydn than his CGI model is a win-win in my book; hardcore Thomas fans are not alienated by the real life designs of the engines, and then regular OO9 modelers will have an authentic model to work off of for Sir Haydn.

Haven't been able to catch up on the stream yet but I'm very surprised Toby's Shed hasn't emerged in the range yet. I could easily see it passing for a plastic building too, since resin is off the table. It's dual use, combined with the Farmer McColl figures coming out makes it seem like a very good future building choice.

If Bachmann really wants to make the most of engine tooling repaints, I feel like they should at least try to pitch Norman and Dennis to Mattel before continuing to scrape the barrel for Big World Big Adventures era characters.



Dennis is a model era character, true, but he does have the distinction of being noted several times as a sibling of Norman in Norman's bios and merchandise. To me personally, it makes him "somewhat" of an honorary CGI character, compared to BoCo or Stepney, whom of which were never mentioned in the CGI era in any regard. I really get the impression that had BWBA not jumped in, we could've seen Dennis surface in the CGI era with Norman.



Topping that off, Norman has had a few speaking roles throughout the CGI era, and is often marketed with Paxton and Sidney as a trio (probably because they're each red, green, and blue), so he has a notable presence in CGI. Bachmann has made Paxton, and is now making Sidney, so why not round off the trio? To me, Norman and Dennis is a win-win for Bachmann and its consumers; niche and quirky, but bold and unique additions to the range.

Quote from: harrison05 on October 13, 2024, 11:19:43 PM

Quote from: Cheeky_ULP on October 13, 2024, 09:30:48 PM

Quote from: harrison05 on October 13, 2024, 09:14:00 PMAnd now fans will be at Bachmann to "GiVe DuNcAn AnOtHeR gO".

Considering people were looking forward to Duncan (especially when there was a good amount of pre-orders), it's completely reasonable for people to hope that Duncan is given another design attempt, and that a compromise can be found between all parties involved with the creation of the model. I don't think it really benefits the discussion to generalize the entire market in a condescending tone of voice.

I know people were looking forward to Duncan (I was too he's my favourite NG character) but people are pestering Bachmann and some at Trainworld like crazy about Duncan. Yes people are still allowed to say they want Duncan and can request him (that shows how popular he really is) but not constantly all the time. I think we all need to be patient, wait and see what happens with like you said "all parties involved with the creation of the model."

It's going to happen inevitably for a little while since the news is fresh. I don't think there's much point in ridiculing or trying to police people for wanting the decision to be reconsidered. To add, if there was silence, then Bachmann and Mattel would simply assume that they made the right call and that there was not strong demand for Duncan, when that's obviously not the case.

Quote from: harrison05 on October 13, 2024, 09:14:00 PMAnd now fans will be at Bachmann to "GiVe DuNcAn AnOtHeR gO".

Considering people were looking forward to Duncan (especially when there was a good amount of pre-orders), it's completely reasonable for people to hope that Duncan is given another design attempt, and that a compromise can be found between all parties involved with the creation of the model. I don't think it really benefits the discussion to generalize the entire market in a condescending tone of voice.

Quote from: JLK2707 on October 12, 2024, 03:11:45 AMI honestly do not feel that Nia would be possible since her prototype is just narrow gauge.

When Bachmann designs products for the Thomas range, they usually try to base it off the design in the TV series and the provided CGI orthos of the character or item in question. Nia's basis being narrow gauge would have little difference in the equation of her design, especially when she is designed to be standard gauge.

The unpopularity with the CGI Duncan being a legitimate concern for the product shows that Bachmann and Mattel need to sit down and re-analyze Duncan's design, as it was not properly designed up to standards with Duncans previous incarnations. This is no longer just an opinion among the fandom, as it's now objectively affecting the potential sales of a product.

Duncan has come in -many- shapes between the Railway Series and different seasons of the model era. Surely, surely, some level of creative liberties would be acceptable with him. Somehow it needs to be communicated to Mattel that the CGI mandate needs more flexibility, as Duncan would sell better by being more faithful to his historic designs. CGI Duncan also headlined only... Two? Episodes, maybe a couple more. A design that is barely half a decade old and was poorly received shouldn't be overruling the designs Duncan has been known to have for over half a century. Mattel, in the grand scheme of things, gains nothing financially by enforcing the mandate for Duncan; if anything, they're losing potential sales.

I don't see Bachmann doing BWBA coaches unless they do BWBA engines to go with them. Which, I don't see any BWBA engines being made either, as they would require new toolings, which isn't a smart idea to do for new characters that failed to catch on in popularity. There's already a good handful of CGI (and hopefully someday, model era again) characters Bachmann could and should make new toolings for first, before scraping the bottom of the barrel of late 2010s new characters (see: The Great Race onward).

The Old Coaches have a unique design compared to the LBSCR Stroudleys. If they repainted the Stroudleys in the Old Coaches color, it would probably look too similar to Emily's Coaches, which are also dark green with cream accents.

Quote from: Yard Master on September 24, 2024, 09:25:50 AMHi all,

Stanley will not be shipping until 2025. We apologize for the delay, but hopefully we will a painted sample to show before the end of the year.

Fingers crossed this is opening the chance for Stanley to have the Edward wheels instead of Thomas' wheels; everyone prefers Edwards as they look more accurate to the BR55 style wheels the show uses.

Honestly, I've very rarely seen people ask about specific toolings for the express coaches in any regard over the years, so I'd be surprised if there was suddenly a demand now. Similarly, I've never seen people ask for more accurate 7-plank toolings; stuff like that just isn't really on most Bachmann fans radars.

People have bee advocating for the HO/OO range to upgrade to boxes for a long time. I could be mis-remembering, but there's some convoluted reason as to why they haven't switched yet that dates back to when the range first began.