In the off-chance that Bachmann needs an alternative recolors to existing characters, here's my suggestion/ideas for them to think about:

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/ttte/images/f/fc/Salty%27sSurprise27.png/revision/latest?cb=20151125173601

Green Salty:

With the re-issue of Salty (as far as I'm aware of), we could have a Green Salty as a fun little color variant from that one episode that is kind of dull in the Nitrogen era (also since we got a Yellow Rheneas from Blue Mountain Mystery that contrasted his usual Red-Orange paintwork)...

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/ttte/images/b/b1/BillorBen%3F110.png/revision/latest?cb=20180807204328

Blue Bill & Ben

Oh man, having Twins be colored blue like from Bill or Ben is a fun idea because they're a two-for-one deal in that not only their boilers would be painted blue, but also their wheels too....! The only thing that needs to be changed slightly is their nameplates of who's who...! Not sure if they'd even be able to do this with how Bachmann released them as their Model era counterparts, w/ their detailing that was added in the CGI series by this point, but hey who knows since we got a LBSC Thomas & Origins James model, perhaps just not add anything and just change the paintwork...

Hello, I'm new to this thread, But I would like to add on the future suggestions. To begin, I think Bachmann Should make Rocky the Rescue Crane with DCC on Board. the DCC Decoder will power functions like raising and lowering the arm, raising and lowering the hook (Connected to the piston rod and Crankshaft), and rotating the crane body through 360 degrees of rotation (Connected to a moving eye Mechanism).

Bachmann Should also release Judy and Jerome in my opinion. Again to reiterate, the same functions that are on Rocky, should also be on Judy and Jerome as well as a DCC Decoder

what do you guys think?

While it would be a novel idea, I think something like that in an OO scale Thomas branded range would be astronomical in cost and difficult to make working to those specifications.

The idea of Rocky plus Judy & Jerome being made is a perfect idea, BUT without the DCC because as much as the idea is great, it'll come down to the cost. Like Cheeky_ULP said, and also down to the previous mentioning of Harvey and Diesel 10, their extended arms (Harvey, Rocky, and Judy & Jerome's crane arms and/or Diesel 10's Pinchy) would alone add to the cost of the extra parts to be made. I'd shudder to think that Rocky himself would somehow end up being the Rebecca equivalent to being an expensive rolling stock, but who knows....

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

Green Salty could be cool.

Maybe you guys are right. Without DCC, Rocky, Judy, Jerome, Harvey, and Diesel 10 would be possible, I think Bachmann should make Rocky, Harvey, Judy and Jerome without DCC, but rather with a long key to operate their functions like for Rocky (in this case) maybe a sliding door to access the arm winch and an external axle where the key engages to operate the hook. There should also be a crane body rotation through 360 degrees without the said key. (I can say the same thing for Judy and Jerome.) For Harvey, only the winch and the crane arm rotation are possible, one of them without a key (rotation of the arm) and one with the said key (raising and lowering the hook), Diesel 10 on the other hand is a different story, he should have pinchy being posed by mini hydraulic cylinders with metal pistons and plastic cylinder jackets. However, it may not be possible to add miniature hydraulic pistons to open and close pinchy, despite being able to rotate. In fact, the whole arm on Diesel 10 should rotate through 360 degrees. Apart from those 5 characters, I sure would like to see more Thomas & Friends and railway series characters being released by Bachmann trains.

How possible would it be for Bachmann trains to model Mike, jock, Rex, and Bert the miniature engines?

I would love these in the HOn30 range

I actually would want to see the aresldale engines produced. (they were another one of the characters I had in mind for them to do). I just didn't know if they could or not. (they were always my no. 1 picks of characters from the railway series that didn't make it into the show until they finailly did in sodor's legend of the lost treasure). think it would be great with the three small railway engines.

and since i've seen everyone suggesting for harvey (he is another one I did wanted them to do). except the only issue is I just don't know how they would do him with the crane. (they may surprise us if they do him).if they did him we would have both of the major highlighted characters from season 6 him and salty.

and for lastly a reannouncement of duncan. (yes I'm adding duncan again but this time I'm hoping they'd reannounce him again like they did with diesel for the g scale line).

and for the future when the mandate is done. I have a few characters from the older seasons I'd hope they do. (again this is for when the mandate is over with.

Duke (just would like to finish off with the main 7 narrow guage engines).

stepney (he has been the most requested character for bachmann to do and I've always wanted him in the range like everyone else). hopefully he would be the first one they do after the mandate is over with.

d261 (to go with stepney).

and lastly is a different choice and it is arthur. I can say after rewatching season 7 out of the five new characters arthur is probably my favorite of the bunch. (now emily grew on me in latter years and she is in my top 3 favorites of the characters introduced in season's 6 and 7). salty is no. 1 (he was always my favorite of the post season 4 characters). harvey (for being a unique different engine with a crane). and emily at 3 (for growing on me in latter years I prefer how she was with her season 7 and brenner era personality than what they turned her into afterwards). here's why he was going to be named Clarence originally but was changed to arthur as he was named after a child's late grandfather from a contest. second I think of the new characters from season 7 i think he had a lot of potential that they could of done with him of he had returned in the latter seasons. (I remember reading on the show wiki triva for him was brought up for the inspiration of the paint for Ryan). I like his design and he's now in the top 4 favorite list of the newbies from season's 6 and 7.

but as I always say we will see what the future may bring.

Well regardless of what characters we want to see being made by Bachmann trains, I'm sure they can be good products. Besides, Bachmann have yet to make Z gauge EZ track (For Z gauge locomotives and for the miniature engines on the arlesdale miniature railway, and n scale rack and pinion track, (specifically for the engines on the Culdee fell mountain railway) but that's for another thread.

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 .

Hi all,

We appreciate the suggestions. We were uncertain as to how to handle this topic, but as it's come up many times now, I feel I need to address one piece of speculation:

Bachmann does not have a CGI "mandate" from Mattel. We are not required or forced to make exclusively CGI character and items, as can be seen from items like the 80th Anniversary set, the China Clay Wagons, the Museum Coaches, S.C. Ruffey, etc.

It's been our choice to focus primarily on characters that have appeared in the CGI series, particularly the engines. We do this in order to have a strong relationship with Mattel and to help promote their brand, by making sure to highlight engines that are most recognizable to children watching the newer seasons of the show. While all of our models do need to be approved by Mattel, they've never outright forced us to only create CGI products.

We'd love to do every character across all eras of the franchise someday- we just can't say when or if all of them will be feasible. But never say never!

Thanks for clearing that up for the fans. Here's hoping the BACHMANN line is around for another 23 years so we can get those characters.

To be frank. I never thought we'd have as many as we do now way back in 2005.

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