BoCo and Stepney would be cool. I'd just get them in a heartbeat.

Quote from: Yard Master on March 11, 2025, 09:37:43 AMHi 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!

After being discussed for like, several years, it was finally time for one of the admins to debunk the CGI mandate.

Turns out the CGI mandate isn't real, and was nothing more than a myth. Bachmann isn't forced to stick with characters that only appeared in the CGI series. They just CHOOSE to stick with engines that appeared in the CGI series in order to have a strong relationship with Mattel, and highlight engines that would be most recognizable to the younger fans. While it is true that all products do need to be approved by Mattel, they never forced Bachmann to ONLY make CGI series characters.

So this means that characters like Stepney, BoCo, or Duke are still worth discussing. Although they've never officially appeared in the CGI series, that doesn't mean they'll never be made. Though they do have fan-made CGI renders as seen in fan-made productions. Splatter and Dodge are still possible, especially since their tooling actually exists.

Now that the CGI mandate has been debunked, we can stop talking about that, and still suggest characters, even if they didn't appear in full CGI.

I just take back what I said about Mattel with this.

I would just love Splatter and Dodge in HO Scale.