The Everything Thomas Topic

[TrainFan97]

I had a feeling they would stick with the African tanker design all along. I would've rather have had the regular oil tanker with a face on it (from Journey Beyond Sodor), but I guess Mattel pushed for the African tanker because it's a nice purple color, just like how both Troublesome Trucks #3 and #4 were green. They decided to go with a troublesome tanker that's not even from Sodor.

It's also the first Troublesome Truck in Bachmann's range to be explicitly based on the CGI series. Did they botch it by going with the African tanker? Should they make another version called "Sodor Oil Tanker Troublesome Truck #6"? It would be another version of the same truck, but with the Sodor design, also from the CGI series. It might replace the faceless version, in other words, get the faceless oil tanker discontinued.

[Falcon the 2nd]

That's not a bad rendition of that tanker. Nice to see it in a fully sculpted and painted phase after waiting quite a while.

Keeping the flow of new info going for the holidays, Busy Bee James (58821) has also been released:
https://twitter.com/bachmanntrains/status/1336761931764477953

Pretty good progress being made as far as scheduled releases are concerned. All we have left are the three N Scale tankers and (to an extent) Origins James before the end of this year.

[Toad139]

Troublesome Truck #6 is quite disappointing to me. It seems as though they took the first picture off the wiki, without putting any further research into what they were making. Considering how well truck #5 sold, you would think they would make another classic series truck, and even if they had to make a CG wagon, a standard oil design would have been much better than what they chose. It just seems like a huge missed opportunity. I'm sure there will be people who enjoy it, but I probably won't pick it up. Hopefully one day we will get a proper troublesome tanker, that isn't based on BWBA.

[clrp5150]

Hey guys I'm new to this forum thing, and model trains in general. When do you think we will get the 2021 catalog? I saw that some people said January or February but someone else said July. I'm just curious. Also TT#6 doesn't look half bad and I'll probably get it when I get TT's 3, 4 and 5.

[TerencetheTractor525]

https://twitter.com/TerencetheT525/status/1336743400817778689?s=20

I posted the image of Troublesome Truck #6 on Twitter earlier today, and Thomas fans have been commenting and retweeting their thoughts all day. The overall reaction seems to be mixed.

For me, I would have also been happier if Bachmann based it on one of the troublesome tankers from Toad Stands By. However, I would not go as far as stating that it looks terrible either. The main thing that I would have done differently is the paint scheme, as the purple is a little too bright for my liking.

Hey guys I'm new to this forum thing, and model trains in general. When do you think we will get the 2021 catalog? I saw that some people said January or February but someone else said July. I'm just curious. Also TT#6 doesn't look half bad and I'll probably get it when I get TT's 3, 4 and 5.

Welcome to the Bachmann Forum! As long as the catalog does not get released early, as it did this year, it should be released at some point in February.

[TrainFan97]

I knew people would be disappointed that they went with the African tanker, just like in the illustration, and the purple color is just another example of brightly-colored rolling stock pushed by Mattel. Maybe in response to the criticism, should Bachmann make another version of the truck called "Oil Tanker Troublesome Truck #6 - Sodor"? They can just easily take the oil tanker they already make, and put a face on it, then discontinue the faceless oil tanker. It would be just like when the Spiteful Brake Van was announced for Large Scale, it was announced for HO Scale one year later. It took years of popular demand to bring back the Express Coaches. It's possible Bachmann could make a Sodor version of Troublesome Truck #6 if there's popular demand for it.

Regarding other announcements, it's only a matter of time before Large Scale Diesel gets revealed fully painted. We probably won't see HO Scale Daisy, HOn30 Scale Peter Sam, or N Scale James until the Toy Fair, or close to it. Really hoping for Daisy to get revealed soon, as it's only a matter of time.

[MrNormalDraws]

Well, at least I know why the previous image for Troublesome Truck 6 was in red.

Anyway, despite it being based on the African Tanker from BWBA (I'm not against that era), I'm actually pleased how it turns out and unlike the other even numbered Troublesome Trucks, at least it's based on the show (#2 was based on a random clipart and #4 I think looks the worse, as it doesn't seem to be based on anything. Plus the color they choose for #4 looks very weird, even though I'm a fan of the color green).

[Rodimus Supreme]

Ugh, Mattel just had to force an ugly design from that God-awful BWBA. This is a fail. Someone needs to force the idea into Mattel's head that everything they do with Thomas and Friends is wrong and ugly and an egregious slap in the face to what Thomas and Friends is supposed to be. They never do anything right, anyway. It's part of why they lost a number of their DC Comics licenses.

[Angelob6660]

I was debating back and forth on buying this tank car. If it was going to be a good paint scheme I'll get it and remove the face.
I'm was never really a fan of the face tank cars in the 90s. Now that I saw the color being purple. It cemented the decision to not getting it.

[TrainFan97]

It's clear that Bachmann is going to have to make a better version of Troublesome Truck #6. Already, several people have expressed disinterest in buying it. It's the first Troublesome Truck Bachmann has made that genuinely disappointed people. By actually going through with the African tanker, Bachmann did indeed botch it. Mattel must have pushed Bachmann to make the African tanker, and it's the first product in the Bachmann Thomas range to be based on the infamous BWBA era.

We may not see Large Scale Diesel fully painted until the Toy Fair. It would really be nice if Large Scale Edward ever does get made, but it will probably never happen, especially by the fact that Mattel seems to have an irrational disdain for Edward.

[Falcon the 2nd]

Truth be told, I'm not quite interested in buying the new tanker either. As much as I like purple as a color, I don't want to buy anything that's connected to the notorious "Bwuhba" era. Hopefully it'll at least be the only thing they make of that era now that it's over. Most fans didn't like it and I'm certain they'd rather not see any more of its content made.

Part of me was wondering if favoritism would come into play in terms of future Large Scale engines. We already know how Mattel unfortunately feels about Edward. Though the surprising addition of Mavis in Strasburg's Day Out With Thomas events was well-received, I'm not sure if that would be enough for her to be made (besides the other reasons I've mentioned before). I still want to see through it to the end with Mavis on some level, though I know very well that there is some inherit doubt on whether or not Mattel would want her made.

To my understanding of the recent series media, Duck and Bill & Ben have generally been used more often than Edward and Mavis. Part of me wonders if they would be made before the latter two. The same can also be said with Paxton, but I'm not sure what the benefits would be in following up on Diesel immediately with a recolor of his tooling. I also feel it'd be best to let Bachmann take their time with perfecting the position of his face on a bigger scale model.

[TrainFan97]

As long as Mattel still owns Thomas, we may never get Large Scale Edward or Mavis, unless the demand creates a miracle. It's already a miracle that Large Scale Diesel was revived after getting cancelled two years before.

If we can't get Edward or Mavis because of Mattel's ways, then other great ideas for Large Scale engines would be Duck, or Bill and Ben. I'd rather see them get made than Paxton. Would it really be the best idea to introduce a recolor immediately after Diesel gets made? Both Duck, and the tank engine twins made recent appearances in the CGI series. Duck's longer chassis could be problematic, but I'd love to be proven wrong. Bill and Ben would be a great choice for Large Scale, since they're two engines that use only one tooling, and no one would want to buy one without the other.

List of new toolings for engines in Large Scale that would be best-received:

-Edward
-Mavis
-Duck
-Oliver
-Bill and Ben

Any of these choices would be appreciated by the fans. Diesel was the first engine to be made in Large Scale since Toby. If they're not ready to make another new tooling just yet, then I guess they'll have to make Paxton.

[Chaz]

My LBSC Thomas arrived in the mail earlier!  Normally I would do one of my usual reviews on here sharing my thoughts on the model, but I decided against it since I wanted to wait on the Origin James' release before giving my thoughts, since I feel it only makes sense to look at them together at the same time.  Especially since these two in particular were used in the same special.  Once the Origin James is out I will share my thoughts on them.  

[AJW98Productions]

I'm very pleased with how well Bachmann seemed to have turned out the livery on the LBSC Thomas. I can't say I like the minor update to the face (triangle eyebrows) though I do it is more accurate to the show, as Thomas's eyebrows have slowly become more triangular since Series 3 promotional images of the models, so I can't really complain too much there. Though I must say, I eagerly await the review, Chaz!

Also, due to my...prolonged absence from posting, I must also give Bachmann a long, long overdue kudos for producing the Narrow Gauge Coaches with different toolings. I was dreading they'd have the same tooling since they were announced, and I don't think I ever publicly expressed my gratitude in seeing them produced with different toolings. So sincerely, thank you very much for that, Bachmann! I hope we can see the new brake vans soon too.

And to all those who've used the Red Coach to form your own set of Railway Series coaches (in some cases, complete with Beatrice), I just wanted to say, superb work there everyone! It's been very inspiring to see.

~Alex

[Rodimus Supreme]

My LBSC Thomas arrived in the mail earlier!  Normally I would do one of my usual reviews on here sharing my thoughts on the model, but I decided against it since I wanted to wait on the Origin James' release before giving my thoughts, since I feel it only makes sense to look at them together at the same time.  Especially since these two in particular were used in the same special.  Once the Origin James is out I will share my thoughts on them.  

Do I spy Optimus Prime in the background?