Quote from: Chaz on March 17, 2025, 08:50:21 PMIt was a lot of fun being on the stream! I couldn't really see the comments while I was presenting, but I definitely noticed a few familiar faces during the live session.

It was truly an honor to be there for Doug's final appearance before retiring. As I emphasized earlier, he's not just a great businessman who brings a wealth of knowledge when it comes to trains and Thomas, but also a really great friend. That said, Matt will do a fantastic job stepping into Doug's role, and I'm looking forward to seeing how progress and updates unfold moving forward.

Was crazy to see you on the stream . If one thing will stay the same on the fourm users come and ago but you have been here since the beginning .

This stream really felt special having a Bachmann form legend as the guest .

Learning Doug stated at the Budd rail car company making amfleets to Bachmann also making amfleets .See the inspiration for the Christmas set was based on a trackmaster is pretty cool . And all the behind the scenes material we got was super cool .

As we know Doug is retiring . We know we  will have a figure of him in Thomas line as an Easter egg . I win that contest giveaway with the figure if not I have the figure pack to look forward to .But this guy has impacted Bachmann and Thomas in general please use this thread to recognize the VP of license products.

They did promise that video a while back for the new stuff this year so I feel that could be first shown on the stream .


Glad we have a shipping estimate on Stanley I hope the figures come very soon as well .

Anyway here is the current status  on a ton of products we have yet to see some out
RWS Thomas set - hand painted sample
DCC Thomas and Percy - running samples
Stanley - due July
Salty - painted sample DCC
Sidney and mainland diesel - no sample
Open carriage - sample but it photoshopped
Milk tanker - possible fianl sample no indication of it being a mockup
Troublsome truck 7 - no sample Open carriage
Diesel fuel load wagon - illustration shown
80th vans -illustrations shown
China clay wagon - illustrations shown
Tar tanker - illustrations shown
Sir Handel - due late summer
High side wagons - final sample
Narrow gauge gonalas - final sample
Gunpowder vans - no sample
Bulgy - no sample
Figure packs - shown in package
N scale LBSC Thomas - no sample
N scale black James - no sample
N scale Henry - no sample
N scale diesel and Paxton - no sample
N scale express coaches - no sample progress has been made however
N scale open wagons - no sample
20 ton brakevan - no sample
LBSC Thomas large - no sample
DCC set - shown in package

There is definitely something that I'm missing

I really appreciate the clarification .Bachmann really has been doing a job making characters like Daisy or Stanley or fan loved CGI only characters like Ryan  to fit in with Daisy on the harwick branchline .

I will say though if Bachmann were to make some engines that never returned to cgi I think that Awdry created characters BoCo and Stepney

Overall I know there are characters that kids are likely to recognize that will sell well such as Nia or
Philip
There are also fan beloved characters who are more recognizable such as Hiro Porter or Whiff.
For the  characters it's been years since they appeared in the show and only appeared a handful of times characters like gator or Timothy are not that fan loved or beloved by kids and I am starting to wonder how they compare in popularity to BoCo or Stepney

So if the CGI mandate does not apply to rolling stock then I have some suggestions of a rolling stock character I think that would a fantastic seller for the line
Hector
Hopper wagons are done all the time for Bachmann so I know he would be a peice of cake for the designers and he would sell well as fans would want to prove to Bachmann that model era exclusive  characters can sell well .

Stanley had the mold thing on his smoke box they will be fixing before the final product .

I do think Stanley could be coming very soon and I expect us to see this finalized Stanley shown off in a package .
Tbh the more I think about a lot of products are in the painted but not final stage right now sir Handel the open coach RWS Thomas .
I do think we could hopefully see salty next stream and a video of him running Ik we have seen him before but just to remind people he is on the way

Winston was not a good seller but it is a shame he is gone .

We have a lot of samples they have yet to show off yet on stream that we know are there
•RWS Thomas set
•Sir Hayden
•open coach
•Finalized Stanley
•gondolas

I do think the n scale express coaches will be shown off very soon as we have known they have been in tooling for a while .

These are cool ideas, but honestly, I think that these arms should just be poseable and if they were made their arms would be poseable and not DCC compatible as the price would very much just be too expensive if Bachmann were to make a Diesel 10 Rocky Harvey etc I imagine they would be poseable and not operable.

However I would LOVE to see them do Rocky

So we have offical images  of the set
It seems we were unsuccessful
How ever something that went through the back of my head is that it was odd it used the used the old Thomas eye brows on the stock image . But sure enough it will be on the final set that's sort of cool I guess
There is a chance there could be red lining on the back of this fingers crossed, but who knows. I do hope this gets out by fall this year and given how easy this is I could see that happening

Tbh i think the 2025 new engine should be Harvey he is the last standard gauge steam engine  from the classic series that would comply with the CGI mandate that they have yet to make I definitely think he would be a bit more expensive but would be worth it

The model series slate trucks known on the wiki as the skalroey slate trucks are nice and actually appear in CGI however they are really redundant as they have a very similar model to it already that is closer to the real life slate trucks from the TR .

I do think adding on faces to the existing slate trucks is the most likely way we could get trouble some slate wagons .

So we finally have 2 out of the three narrow gauge wagon toolings shown off . Both of which have a painted samples what could be next for narrow gauge rolling stock
The 4 plank wagons  or the flatbeds seem like good choices for a new tool but maybe it's a bit too soon for that

What repaints can they do
The red coach is something highly requested by fans and I think it would a be great seller

Brown box and brake vans have also been requested a ton and I do think they would also be good sellers

As for slate wagons
A white varient is missing so they could possibly do that and maybe around the same time as they are doing cycling out some of them maybe replace the loads in the brown and red ones with BMQ blue slate loads
I also think we need troublesome slate wagons
Now Bachmann has been doing cgi trucks as of late but a product motorized Troublsome tanker that only came out after Bachmann made there African oil tanker features a tanker with a classic face so I think this could be viable

I think 2 different Troublsome slate wagons should happen
Shocked and happy

I think they could reuse on these faces for a Sodor tanker if they want to .

Anyway, those are my narrow gauge wagon, predictions. I don't know if any of these would happen this year, but those are them.

Quote from: DustyMarie53! on February 04, 2025, 07:14:44 PMI'm of two minds on this. On one hand, the face would be a really nice bonus. However, with the pipeline having so much to work on as is, I do worry delaying this pack just for the face would mean it missing the anniversary year window and thus feeling less special. Admittedly people will probably buy it anyway, me included, but it being tied with this year specifically I think will help its sales a lot.

A nice potential middle ground would be if they updated the face print itself. The original promos were technically based on the rws drawings. Giving it a darker palette and some other small cosmetics could easily make it look like the face from the books without having to sculpt a new mold. Ultimately, I'll be happy with what whatever road they choose

Cool props announced in 2020 a LBSC Thomas for the 75th and it's not even out yet
I also think the 80th technically could extend to 2026 so it technically will be celebrating the actual 80th anniversary of Thomas himself if the site comes out in 2026 it won't be a bad idea at all considering nothing in that set is based on the three railway engine.
Obviously, I would like it to come out as soon as possible, but an exclusive face delay it to the proper year would actually work out for the best .

However, I think that getting this face designed as soon as possible and getting the set out as soon as possible would work out for the best .

On a side note Bachmann will need to make this decision very very soon .

So in a recent Thomas Tuesday it was said if the demand was there they would consider giving the thomas in the 80th set a exclusive new face

Now this face would be a nice piece to include and I could see the sales for this set skyrocketing out of the roof on the resale market, this set would go for tons and just the Thomas alone would be at least $100 by him self . There was a lot of people that wanted this to happen myself included.

They could also reissue RWS thomas from this set by himself for the 85th in 2030.

Please reply or like this post for the demand of RWS Thomas face . Other companies have made RWS Thomas and have given him exclusive faces .