I think another minor factor not mentioned yet is the novelty of such an idea is gone. In the model era, the humans were these uniquely stylized doll figures. Once CGI came around, they looked more like normal, cartoony CGI people.

Quote from: rjmets41 on February 28, 2019, 06:41:48 PM

Quote from: TrainFan97 on February 28, 2019, 01:07:27 PM
I honestly don't get why people were still posting in the 2019 thread, even a few weeks after this year's announcements already got posted.

Regarding HO recolors, I'm starting to think Sidney is overdue, but because of the 75th Anniversary, LBSC Thomas is a higher priority. Ever since Mattel's takeover, we've only gotten two new toolings in HO Scale, which were Oliver and Rosie. Hopefully, another company will buy the franchise; one that actually knows how to manage it properly, and Mattel is going down the toilet.

I don't know how many of you guys have seen this but, this is Bachmann last fall (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrkkJVVSqzE&t=398s). Basically, Bachmann is saying the market is not there to put out new toolings and mentions that Bachmann milks the Thomas and Friends line in order to help pay for its other projects. Don't be so quick to blame Mattel.

Most of us are more than aware of it, and it doesn't excuse Mattel from raising the prices on the license or approving/disapproving certain products and designs within the last few years. Prices are going up, but quality isn't (particularly had a few personal incidents with items not glued on properly) and despite said price increases, the brand just isn't quite feeling like to many Bachmann fans that it's getting the same love that it used to.

I don't understand why people are quick to defend a company that's losing money in the millions and are downright lying to stockholders in order to try and keep profits going back in early February via reporting a sudden adjusted profit. This isn't some super private secret disclosed from the public, it's a well known ongoing development in the last few months (if not years). This isn't some baseless jab or troll attempt at Mattel, it's a legitimate problem going on with their company as a whole. Thomas is in shaky hands, and indisputably so.

I was referring to the face, not the entire body. The body itself I assume is still the Diesel mold, but it's hard to say without seeing pictures of the faceplate removed.

Paxton actually uses a new mold, unlike Diesel, Arry & Bert. He has a very strange faceplate that includes the green part of his front around his face, and the piece extends all the way to the piping on his front.

If Arry and Bert ever get re-released and they sport these faces;

I'd buy them in a heartbeat. As it stands though, them doing this seems unlikely. Even then, they would have to either get creative with the proportion, or else the face will end up being too big, just like Paxtons face. Diesels face is much bigger than Arry and Berts, especially in the model era, as you can see here;


This gives you an idea of how big of a space needs to be covered on the tooling:


It also lends to why I think Bachmann is holding off on Sidney; Sidney has a round face and would require a "face plate" around his face to cover the eye mechanism of the model like Paxtons face tries to. This aesthetic wasn't positively received though by fans.

It's such a weird design choice (one that they didn't do for Arry and Bert, I'll add) that I'm still perplexed as to why they did this.

If a 3D printed Paxton face that's smaller in size comes around in the near future, I'd probably wind up getting Paxton. For now? Eh.... Either way, these problems are why I don't see a more market-able Arry and Bert being released in the near future.

However...



A Japanese fan was able to make their own faces, and as you can see, the size is fine, and the faces look super accurate.

A nice touch they did as well was remove the handrail piping off the front of Arry and Bert, which the characters lack in both model and CGI forms.

Also worthy of note, they did a great Devious Diesel model era face:


You can check out their work here: https://twitter.com/tomynewacoliver/

Just because one business has a good relation with Mattel does not mean another business does as well. There's already undeniable evidence that a price increase occured after Mattel acquired the brand. Mattels company is objectively sinking, and this has been publicly disclosed in the news everywhere lately. There's no reason to feel the need to defend a company that can barely hold itself together financially.

Yes, Sean has advertised his store on here before, which is technically against the rules. Don't see what much it has to do with the 2019 announcements, either.

Looks like my predictions for the wagon decals turned out to be correct. Shame that none of them are a hopper though, and I'm a little disappointed that both the Mining Wagon and Coal Co. Wagon have the same coal load, a load that has been in the range for awhile, no less. For anyone who missed out on the original coal wagon though, I'm sure these will be worth it.

Pleasantly surprised to see the Log Wagon is the Flatbed, I'll definitely be getting a bunch of those. Might rub off the Logging Co. decal though.

Surprised to see Red Rosie actually has the lamp, so it's good to see Bachmann took an extra effort there.

On the opposite end of surprises, I am not at all surprised to see Arry and Bert discontinued; they really missed the mark with Arry and Bert, and I firmly believe that if they had model era faces instead of identical CGI faces, it would've made a world of a difference in sales from the "hardcore fans." Maybe an idea to consider for the future, Bachmann?

I -am- surprised that the Signal Box is discontinued though. I guess Bachmann decided enough people purchased the last run and that another run might just end up as shelf warmers.

Slightly disappointed that we have no renders of the N Scale Thomas stock yet, but hopefully that'll be rectified in the coming months.

Once again, prices have gone up quite tremendously. It seems year after year Mattel is demanding more money for the Thomas license, and prices continue to rise over 200% than they were just a bit less than a decade ago. There isn't much of a reason for this beyond Mattel, which is a bit of a joke when they're continually losing money.

I honestly wasn't meaning to imply I knew they were going to make any specific scale, but just had my hopes up.

The real question is if the person you emailed knew the specifics of the question; like if we asked them about the Thomas range, would they call it HO scale because that's what it's marketed for in the US, or know that it's technically OO scale? It's hard to say and why I'm just holding my tongue until we see the range. It feels almost like they're saying 1:160 because that's what they make in the rest of the N-scale range, and the US overall.

Either way, I curiously anticipate what they do choose, be the email correct or incorrect.

I wouldn't really call it economically smart when it's alienating an entirely pre-existing range. So yes, I absolutely think and maintain that the range should be consistently scaled with Tomix. It has an objective benefit of being easier for young modellers to handle, and would allow the tooling to be distinctly Thomas. I think scaling the range to British equipment has its benefits in terms of rolling stock, but I think in the long run it makes things more complicated for Thomas collectors specifically. Americans never minded the scale of the Tomix Thomas range much, and British N scale is a much more niche scale in the UK than OO is.

Basically, we'll just have to see what happens when they reveal images of the upcoming range. If we're lucky, we'll see something in the catalog whenever it comes out. Neither outcome would really surprise me, though.

Course, I have low expectations despite my personal opinions.

The Tomix range is actually easily on Amazon and eBay. Anyone who has any marginal desire to collect the Tomix range has plenty of options online. The only thing that does make them rare is to older N scalers that have a hard time ordering stuff online. However, the more I thought on this point, the more I consider redacting it since that becomes more and more a moot point in 2019. Point is, the Tomix range is accessible within a few clicks and short keyboard strokes. eBay currently has.. 166 international results for various Thomas items.

This is just a snippet of what you can find, and as it's clear to see there's an absolute wealth of the range readily available online.

Yes which is what I said, because you have to keep in mind metre gauge vs standard gauge as well, which is where it rebounds back into the Thomas engines being larger because Japanese rolling stock in metre gauge is usually smaller. It's not gonna be a 1:1 proportion in any regard because the (Tomix) Thomas designs are a loose representation of British rolling stock (the show is properly Gauge 1 but that's a whole nother can of worms).

Either way, the bottom line is as said already; Bachmann UKs Graham Farish range is a different scale, so it makes the Tomix range look too large in comparison. The two ways to go about it are to scale the Bachmann Thomas N scale to Graham Farish's scale and have access to more rolling stock and British engines in the same scale, at the expense of alienating the pre-existing Tomix range. The second option is the vice versa; making it proportionate to Tomix and thus looking in-scale with James, Henry, and the other buildings (all of which are currently available in the deluxe set that sports the CGI Thomas face), but alienating British N scalers a bit.

What will probably make the call in the long run is if Bachmann re-uses Graham Farish toolings for the rolling stock or not. If the wagon toolings are entirely new, then I expect Bachmann will make the N Scale range larger for the same reasons you said Tomix did; to make it easier for kids to handle and use.

That's exactly what I was referring to, though, so I dunno what you're saying.

The Tomix equipment is in scale with Japanese N scale (1∶150) rolling stock, which is metre gauge rather than standard gauge. British N scale (1∶148) is to standard gauge, and thus a different scale entirely.

Personally, I hold the opposite opinion; not scaling them to Tomix would be shooting themselves in the foot, as it means the two ranges would look inconsistent. Think of how the Bachmann and Hornby ranges were always bought together and mixed because they were the same scale. Tomix and Bachmann could benefit from the same ordeal. In the next few years, if Bachmann makes tankers, vent vans, a brake van, etc. they would all be compatible with the Tomix range. There is the advantage of being in-scale with British N scale, but as far as we know, the range isn't even being sold in the UK yet, and is probably being designed with American N scale layouts in mind. It's something we'll hopefully have answers to soon.

Quote from: TrainshockeylifE on February 16, 2019, 11:52:58 AM
Bachmann doesn't listen to what we want, they make their decisions off of what Mattel wants and what fits their budgets.

If that was the case they would've never made items like the Spiteful Brakevan, Duck, or Skarloey. They listen to consumers because consumers buy their product. There is also a difference between listening and actually doing. They do listen to what we request, but Bachmann also does what is the most reasonable for them to manufacture, and they are always trying to balance the best of both worlds within their budget. If they don't make items people want, nobody will buy them. What Mattel does is approve or deny product propositions Bachmann thinks of doing, and then approves or denies designs as they go along the development line. Sometimes this can be a factor as to why items take longer to make.

Quote from: douglas on February 16, 2019, 11:43:43 AM
Woof. A little early, don't you think, boyos? We're only another ~365 days out from the official reveals.

It gives Bachmann a pretty good idea of what products people want.

Of course to me, it's not like too much is gonna change in terms of wishlists. We're still gonna wish for engines like Stepney and Daisy, but still expect engines like LBSC Thomas or Sidney. Only difference now is N scale items will be added to said wishlists.