If Bachmann does another Class 08 retool, the only contenders left are Sidney, Splodge (Splatter and Dodge) and the diesels that appeared since "The Great Race". I'll explain whatever pros and cons that each of the engines might have.
Sidney
Now I think he would be a good one as he's more recent recent and like with Paxton became more utilized after his debut. Plus if he is made, Sidney would be the first blue character Bachmann made since 2008. The only issue I do is how are Bachmann gonna handle his face? Unlike most of the other Class 08s where they have rectangular faces, Sidney's face on the top is curved and I'm kinda worried how they would handle it considering how Paxton was badly made. The only way they can fix this is that they would go back with the body and rework it (I saw in the recent livestream they fixed Paxton's face for G Scale, so makes me wonder if they would do the same for later versions of the HO/OO version?) to fit with Sidney's structure. But that's even if they would have the money to do that.
Splodge
With Arry and Bert off the market, I think putting Splatter and Dodge would be another way on trying to sell the ladder-less Class 08 tooling. There are few pros for this one. For 1, they have different colors and their names are painted contrast to Arry and Bert where they're just the same with no way to differentiate. Plus because they never appeared in the CGI series, another benefit is that Bachmann could try giving the two different faces (similar to how they did with Bill and Ben back in 2010) as they haven't done this with model series characters for a while. If they do, they can try 2-3 of the faces.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EgrmaO1XgAIMwMA.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EgrmaO_X0AA-7wi.jpg)
Now there's a lot of drawbacks some might have with these (and I would play devil's advocate for these cons).
The first thing is that they only appeared in one story. But if you look at Bachmann's backlog, they had quite a bit of characters that are still in the market that only had 1-2 appearances (Jeremy, S.C. Ruffey, Spiteful Brake Van) and a lot of people wanted Bachmann to do Smudger as he was retooled from Rheneas. You can argue that both wagons and Smudger are Awdry characters, but Jeremy isn't so you can't argue with that. But the elephant in the room is because of the story they are in, which is Magic Railroad. For those unaware, it was one of the biggest flops that a lot of fans say that caused the show to go downhill. Now whenever or not you want to argue that the movie shouldn't been made, the point is that it's still part of the show's history and we can't go back and change. However, there are still fans who still like the movie no matter which cut we have (Me being one of those). Plus, if Bachmann can't do Diesel 10, at least they can try out those two.
The Mainland Diesels
I think these ones will be the least likely to be made (unless Mattel forces). While they have very cool color schemes, the main issue with them is that they don't have names aside from a few and the fact that the faces are slight retweaks of Diesel's and Paxton's. Nonetheless Bachmann would just use the coloring as claim it as a repaint of Diesel, but even then I feel like that would be too cheap for them. I understand we are still in a pandemic, but I feel like the repaints are starting to be a lazy way to get around. Plus because of the recent reception of Troublesome Truck 6, I don't know if Bachmann would risk trying to do that and that is most likely we won't get any new engines from the BWBA era. As much as I like to see Bachmann try out Rebecca and Nia, I doubt they would tackle them due to the one tweet they made over a year and from looking at their track record, at least in HO/OO they only do characters after a certain amount of years (eg Paxton was in the show 2011 and Bachmann made him in 2018, Ryan was in 2015 and Bachmann announced him 2021). I know they did Winston for G Scale three years after he was made, but I think they may've contributed to why that range is failing between that year to now.
Sidney
Now I think he would be a good one as he's more recent recent and like with Paxton became more utilized after his debut. Plus if he is made, Sidney would be the first blue character Bachmann made since 2008. The only issue I do is how are Bachmann gonna handle his face? Unlike most of the other Class 08s where they have rectangular faces, Sidney's face on the top is curved and I'm kinda worried how they would handle it considering how Paxton was badly made. The only way they can fix this is that they would go back with the body and rework it (I saw in the recent livestream they fixed Paxton's face for G Scale, so makes me wonder if they would do the same for later versions of the HO/OO version?) to fit with Sidney's structure. But that's even if they would have the money to do that.
Splodge
With Arry and Bert off the market, I think putting Splatter and Dodge would be another way on trying to sell the ladder-less Class 08 tooling. There are few pros for this one. For 1, they have different colors and their names are painted contrast to Arry and Bert where they're just the same with no way to differentiate. Plus because they never appeared in the CGI series, another benefit is that Bachmann could try giving the two different faces (similar to how they did with Bill and Ben back in 2010) as they haven't done this with model series characters for a while. If they do, they can try 2-3 of the faces.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EgrmaO1XgAIMwMA.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EgrmaO_X0AA-7wi.jpg)
Now there's a lot of drawbacks some might have with these (and I would play devil's advocate for these cons).
The first thing is that they only appeared in one story. But if you look at Bachmann's backlog, they had quite a bit of characters that are still in the market that only had 1-2 appearances (Jeremy, S.C. Ruffey, Spiteful Brake Van) and a lot of people wanted Bachmann to do Smudger as he was retooled from Rheneas. You can argue that both wagons and Smudger are Awdry characters, but Jeremy isn't so you can't argue with that. But the elephant in the room is because of the story they are in, which is Magic Railroad. For those unaware, it was one of the biggest flops that a lot of fans say that caused the show to go downhill. Now whenever or not you want to argue that the movie shouldn't been made, the point is that it's still part of the show's history and we can't go back and change. However, there are still fans who still like the movie no matter which cut we have (Me being one of those). Plus, if Bachmann can't do Diesel 10, at least they can try out those two.
The Mainland Diesels
I think these ones will be the least likely to be made (unless Mattel forces). While they have very cool color schemes, the main issue with them is that they don't have names aside from a few and the fact that the faces are slight retweaks of Diesel's and Paxton's. Nonetheless Bachmann would just use the coloring as claim it as a repaint of Diesel, but even then I feel like that would be too cheap for them. I understand we are still in a pandemic, but I feel like the repaints are starting to be a lazy way to get around. Plus because of the recent reception of Troublesome Truck 6, I don't know if Bachmann would risk trying to do that and that is most likely we won't get any new engines from the BWBA era. As much as I like to see Bachmann try out Rebecca and Nia, I doubt they would tackle them due to the one tweet they made over a year and from looking at their track record, at least in HO/OO they only do characters after a certain amount of years (eg Paxton was in the show 2011 and Bachmann made him in 2018, Ryan was in 2015 and Bachmann announced him 2021). I know they did Winston for G Scale three years after he was made, but I think they may've contributed to why that range is failing between that year to now.