The sticky thread is from 2009. The yearly announcements get their own thread.

Traditionally the announcements are posted in the afternoon, so anyone lurking around right now might be disappointed.

Quote from: TrainFan97 on February 08, 2018, 06:12:43 AM
I'm surprised this thread hasn't been deleted.

Probably because it's not as harmful as everyone else is making it out to be.

Sitting back on it a bit, I feel like getting our requests for 2019 to be going ASAP probably is a good idea, since it lets Bachmann know quickly where we want them to go next.

Now I'm not saying to go crazy with it, but..

It'd probably save trouble if there was just an indefinite "Next Bachmann Thomas Predictions" thread to avoid these kinds of scenarios.

You can't really forget "NRMA" standards because it's a regulation.

It's also worthy of note that some posts discussing character marketability and whether Bachmann should listen to what fans want or expect have disappeared overnight. I'm not sure what triggered the deletions, but it's possible speaking about Bachmann and Mattel came off as too critical. I don't think anyone means to do so in a spiteful manner though.

Just worthy of note for future discussions.

The Round and Square water towers were also plastic, and those were made in 2016.

IIRC, Oliver took a long time to come out, and we still had Rosie announced the next year. I feel like we've had similar instances in the past with engine announcements. Paxton was announced in 2017, and on average, it does take about a year at best, and two years at worst for an engine to come out. This isn't really anything new to the Thomas range.

At this point, Sidney is the engine everyone expects, but nobody wants.

I'm gonna guess it's because the CGI Troublesome Trucks have a less varied facial expression range. Their smiling face doesn't look very different from their angry and shocked faces, which could risk making the trucks look less unique, and thus less of an incentive to buy them.

Bachmann used that face for the Spiteful Brake van because the original Spiteful Brake van face is probably no longer among HiT/Mattels assets for Thomas & Friends. As a result, Bachmann would have just looked at Troublesome Truck faces that would fit the bill, probably not even thinking to check the Thomas Wikia.

We'll most likely find out at Toy Fair next month.

Dunno if it's just me, but I feel like it has been taking longer for prototypes of the newest engines to surface than it has in past years. As long as the products turn out accurate, the wait tends to be worth it.

Course in some cases like Toad, it never hurts to do some research beyond "it looks like the CGI model in the show", since the animation team themselves have made some glaring issues with the returning characters models (and they have stated awareness of this on Twitter), but I digress. The only other characters in the near future this could be an issue for are Sir Handel and Duncan (especially Duncan).

Bachmann Thomas' 2018 announcements will be at Toy Fair, which is a little over a month from now.

Quote from: thomasj219 on January 08, 2018, 11:46:04 AM
Unless I'm very much mistaken....this is the Thomas Forum. 

The thread was moved by the moderators.

Endorsed by the Bach-Man himself, can't go wrong with that!