OFFICIAL 2014 THOMAS & FRIENDS ANNOUNCEMENTS

[Cheeky_ULP]

Honestly, Troublesome Truck 4 feels redundant when we already have the Coal Wagon.



Loving the water tower though.

[TrainFan97]

Bachmann needs to update their photos in the online catalog.

[BassTbone]

I think Arry and Bert look quite good.  I rather have the current face opposed to the cheesy smiles in CAE!

Any idea when these are for release?  (Spring/Summer/Fall/Winter)

Troublesome Truck #4, although different from what I expected, looks fine to me.  Is the truck smiling, sad, or surprised?


Definitely getting Mathwaite and the signal box when they arrive too. 

[Cirkit:)]

It is ridiculously hard to tell what sort of expression is on the new Troublesome Truck.
It's almost as if the mouth has been blurred on purpose, to keep us guessing!
I'm going to bet that it's smiling, though.
Shame. We need more scowling, mean-looking Troublesome Trucks behind (or in front of) our engines.

I quite agree about the faces on Arry and Bert. Better the CG smiles than those cheesy CAE smiles. At least here I can squint and imagine them looking meaner.

Can't wait for those coaches or those buildings either. The coaches would look great behind Duck, Edward, James.. or being stolen and hidden in the sidings by Arry and Bert :p

[seanrail]

Well time for me to express my thoughts on the new products that were shown in the photos (Thanks Sparks for the photos).   


To get the worst out of the way, I honestly am not too impressed with troublesome truck 4 since it's a green six ton wagon with a CGI face.  It's not the CGI face that gets me, don't get me wrong, but I was expecting something along the lines of a van repaint (similar to the one with the ice cream wagon) with a new face.  I probably won't be getting this one.  


Arry and Bert look exactly as how I pictured them.  Repaints with no ladders and have CGI faces as well.  For what they are though, despite the obvious design choice I think they look great.  Not characters who I have been keen on getting but I'm sure they'll satisfy the fans who have been anxious for them.


The illustration for the new water tower looks fairly good so far, but the actual model itself I am sure will look great.  Same with the red coaches, with both having no photos revealed of them so far.  Nice we finally got an insight to the new products, and I'm looking forward to seeing more soon.

So my final thoughts on what we got this year...  It was a real hit and miss.  I think the things that were great additions (like the buildings and red coaches) were all good ideas and I am sure will sell well, and I imagine Arry and Bert will do well too.  Troublesome truck #4, Jeremy, and the large scale rolling stock however I think were the misses since I have a feeling these will not be quite as popular as the other additions.  So overall, I think we did good this year and as always I am looking forward to the new additions to come soon.

ah well, better luck for Troublesome Truck #5. look out for a strawpoll for Troublesome Truck #5.

[Chaz]

Does anyone (or the forum mods) know of the release date(s) of the red coaches or the new buildings or the speed-activated sound Thomas?  Haven't heard any updates on that last one yet at all. 

[BassTbone]

At current, here is what I have found as far as release dates:

Estimated - 3-15-14

Sound Thomas

Arry

Bert

TT #4

The list above was for 2/28, and I suspect it will be pushed back again like last year.

As far as the buildings and coaches, they probably won't come around until late this year or next year.

[DinoNTrains]

I think considering that we have pictures of the buildings, we may get them towards the end of the year, though I'm not too sure about the coaches, considering how TT#4 was announced last year and won't be released until this year