Happy New Year Everyone! I heard all your criticisms from the last few videos and went for a new editing style. Hope you all liked it and enjoyed the video! 🍻🫡🎉

Moral of the story is: stay unique, make good toys, don’t try to exclusively cater to politics, and promote your freaking show

"Disgraceful!" Said Gordon "Disgusting!" Put in James "Despicable!" Finished Henry

It really says a lot when the fans care more about the show than the people running it. That never happened under Britt and David’s leadership. They knew how to reach their audience and not play down to them.

Seeing as Thomas the tank engine literally made my childhood, this new abominable preschool version of the series is to me, literally the perfect example of the line: "Look how they massacred my boy."

To summarize it, Mattel completely trashed the franchise.

It’s sucks seeing our favourite franchises go down in flames

A few corrections. -Brenner was hired in 2010, before HiT went up for sale -The BWBA era’s CGI wasn’t necessarily cheaper, rather more gimmicky. -Thomas also became less accessible in the U.S. as PBS’ interest declined and Nickelodeon fumbled the contract

On a side note, I think Dan Hageman really described the major flaw with low-budget shows like _All Engines Go!_ with this quote; "Often times in animation, because there's not much money, the studios go, 'let's just kick this out, throw in some bright colors and sounds.'" I got to respect people like the Hageman Brothers and Wilbert Awdry for always providing something substantial for the parents who have to read their stories to kids over and over again.

This makes me sad. This franchise is my greatest childhood.

I remember going to Target as a kid to get either a wooden railway or a Take-A-long Thomas Toy. There was literally a whole isle in the store dedicated entirely for Thomas toys. It was like heaven for me. But now as an adult. I walk into Target and the whole Thomas isle is diminished to not even half a shelf. And the new toys honestly suck and don't stand out to me. So glad I still have my original wooden railway collection. Sad what this awesome franchise has become.

"Poor Thomas franchise. It's been scrapped."

I really hated how Mattel replaced Edward and Henry with Rebecca and Nia. It just doesn't feel right to replace the two iconic characters from the original series with two new characters at Tidmouth Sheds. I mean I don't mind them introducing Rebecca and Nia to the show but don't replace the original characters with these two by removing them from Tidmouth Sheds. Maybe give Rebecca and Nia a shed of their own but still include them in the episodes.

I remember when H.I.T. told the tourist railroad I volunteered for that they had "no marketing skills." Mattel must have taken over from H.I.T..

It's a real shame what happened to the Thomas brand ever since Mattel took over, but I think it could rise up again like Sonic the Hedgehog did after his movies.

Mattel treats Thomas for toys, and that’s terrible. There is Awdry who made his series because he liked making it, then there is Mattel who is just like "Thomas is mine, I can do whatever I want" poor Awdry, he’s now in the other world seeing Mattel ruining his creations.

The thumbnail is astounding and the editing is fantastic! I can imagine you working on the show itself!

The theme of this world/brand is 1950s-70s rural England/Scottish mysticism, hence no smart phones, or mentionings of World wars, theres a church, pastures, and farm in every background. Morals of hard work, character through grace, and redemption through humility. Thats the original world of awdrys and that why that charm lives on in that, and no Nia.

There's no way the Brenner era is a failure. It's been successful with fans for good writing and having Thomas back to it's glory days briefly to bring it back from the downfall. What nonsense.

Thomas is a prime example of why Beloved British IP should never be sold to US mega-corporations... everything that ends up over there gets ruined *insert Joker "you wouldn't get it" GIF here*

I’ll never understand it: Business people poorly manage business, business does poorly, business people blame creative people for something that was purely up to business people

If Thomas the Tank Engine were to get another reboot, I'd like it to be a faithful adaptation of all the books, including Barry the Rescue Engine, even having Ertl style toys for it

As someone who grew up dearly loving this series, thank you for explaining this in detail and logical reasoning. I sure do miss the old Thomas.

Politics should be Kept out of ANY KIND of Media Entertainment. The Only Place Politics should Reside is THE NEWS and *ONLY* the News. Politics better Keep it’s Grubby Hands AWAY from Entertainment Media Franchises.

In my personal opinion, I feel that if Mattel REALLY don't care about Thomas, it's time for people who actually care to buy it off them! If I were in a position to, I'd buy Thomas off them in a heartbeat, and here's how I'd get the franchise back on track: - (re)release all 24 seasons in full on DVD, making sure the DVD rereleases of the pre-HiT seasons use the original cuts instead of the goof-laced remasters found on later DVDs - one way or another, get the original 5 pre-Gullane seasons back on regular broadcast TV in many countries - give the diecast and motorized toy rights to Tomy (who bought Ertl at one point) and wooden toy rights to Brio (who did have a Thomas range from 1996-2000, sold only in the UK and Japan to my knowledge) while still letting Mattel make Thomas & Friends Minis - make sure the brand has plenty of marketing - get to work on a proper Thomas & Friends reboot show, which would: - mimic the original Railway Series, pre-Gullane seasons and seasons 17-20 as much as possible, with a few changes here and there (one difference would be that Duck would be female, as said engine was in the Greek dubs of seasons 1-16!) - my first choice of animation studio? Blue Zoo (Digby Dragon, The Adventures of Paddington, Pip and Posy) - my first choice of narrator? Adam Hills (Mock The Week, The Last Leg) any timeless franchise can work in the right hands, I have a feeling that if Mattel were to somehow lose Fireman Sam and Bob The Builder (for example), and DreamWorks were to somehow lose Postman Pat, we could see those IPs given proper revivals by their new owners!

Also, a problem that kinda goes along with the toys and diversity, is that fact that there’s too many characters in the show in need of character development. Because of marketing issues, Mattel constantly makes new one-time used characters for easy money purposes, instead of trying to use their already made characters in the franchise. This leads to many forgettable characters in the franchise with not being developed properly, which eventually leads to unequalized character development, which is key in any show, kiddy or not. The only way a character can become liked in the show now is if their character gets that development, and that’s usually rare in the show for side characters. Many fans have been asking for the return and development for past fan favorites, like Duck, Oliver, Arthur, etc. However, Mattel doesn’t usually seem to listen to the fans, much because of them having too many characters that they created in need of development or just not wanting to. This leads to the only characters that get development are the steam team and normal reoccurring characters like Diesel, and also large hatred towards other characters. Usually, when a side character does get development nowadays is usually bad, inconsistent, forgotten in future episodes, or just at characters who people don’t want to watch. This is also why old fan favorites are always more praised than newer ones, and why fans create fan series, to support their own wants and needs, which ironically are usually more liked than the canon episodes of the canon series. Overall it’s a never ending cycle of needing money and needing development, which help the downfall of this once great show. Unless Mattel can find a way to end this cycle and get a more healthier way of pleasing the fans and itself without abusing the show, I’m afraid that Thomas will never recover from these problems, and the worst part… The only reason this show still exists is because the fans give more care and love to Thomas and his friends than the actual people who own the legal rights to the franchise. Now that’s sad.

This is the reason why Thomas Content Creators are the best in making Thomas Content after the Brenner Era

Absolutely Amazing video as always Cosmic! Such an interesting theme and the way you tracked the show from the very start of its downfall was perfect! Well Done!!

Happy 40th anniversary to the original TV show

4:40 I don’t know how, but that box art is lethally nostalgic to me for some reason, even though I never bought it, and what’s weirder is that a lot of the items in that set are owned by me, like, cranky, the tunnel, but I don’t have the station or the sheds

R.I.P. Thomas the tank engine from the past, he was a really useful engine

This video hits the nail on the head for the most part. The Thomas I grew up with was a franchise that knew exactly what kids enjoyed and looked for in their entertainment. It was simple and humble but conveyed important lessons for children all the same. The move to CGI was a big step up and anticipated by many with excitement at the time. Unfortunately the show didn't stay in its own lane and became another generic corporate toy machine. The contrast in quality between the modern toys and toys from 10+ years ago is staggering. The vast majority of my old Thomas toys from as far back as maybe 15 or 16 years ago now are still in near-perfect quality; the new toys look like they'll fall apart in 10 minutes. I would not want to spend decent money on those toys if I was a parent, especially in the tough times we find ourselves in. The toys being high quality and not all that cheap taught kids to look after their belongings - Toys that are cheap and nasty do nothing but teach kids that their belongings are expendable. What a shame the Thomas franchise turned out this way. I hope it eventually makes a comeback from this state but I'm not holding my breath. One thing I'll add about the toys is how disappointed I was when the tenders of the tender engines were made into standard rolling stock. I get that the connection broke sometimes but the tender being part of the engine and housing the battery added to the realism of the toy.

In my opinion, the Golden Eara was the model of Thomas and friends I also miss the days of going into Toys R Us and going into Walmart and running to the toys aisle and looking at the Thomas isle I begged my mom for everything in that aisle and also liked the original track master! Also thanks for making this video i loved every minute of it!

I'm neutral towards modern Thomas, but I have to accept the sad truth that it went downhill and it's not perfect. At least on the bright side, there are other things outside of Thomas that I like, such as "Insaniquarium", a fish video game.

Diversity? It's a show about talking trains! Mattel could've done way better to get kids interested in trains themselves by making it more educating, on how a steam engine works, introducing classes of trains and even some background on them. Even bring both Awdry's other stories into the show (thomas going to york, the culdee fell railway, super rescue, etc). Hell if whoever has the majority to and gave them the rights to introduce them, we could've had tugs added into the universe. As for having female trains, that's no problem, but as you put it, they got rid of two main characters (who were the originals) and replaced them. They could've easily written that sir topham decided to upgrade the current main engine shed to a roundhouse. But nope, Mattel wanted a quick buck and didn't give a damn about what the show was originally about. Good thing there are fans out there that keep it alive with stories using train simulators. I hope someone who has a love for the franchise does come to buy it off these corporate monsters and save our beloved number one from the scrap pile.

I hate to admit it Sharon Miller did way better then bwba and AEG

I was born in 1990 and growing up in the UK at that time, Thomas was at its absolute peak, golden years

I really don't think that Thomas and Friends will never recover from this or go back to its Roots and to add more salt to the wound,All Engines Go is to blame since its killing the Franchise within every 5 Minutes. Our only hope of Thomas and Friends getting a resurgence is the Upcoming movie by Marc Foster but another thing that people had pointed out is the T&F Franchise potentially being acquired by Hasbro since they had their eyes on the brand for a while but they haven't done anything about it.

Another thing worth mentioning is the ONLY reason Edward and Henry were brought back in all engines go was so that there could be more background characters ☹️ BACKGROUND CHARACTERS!!!

What makes the downfall an even bigger bummer is it happened before we got a 25th season of Thomas & Friends which would’ve showed Thomas’ adventures in Japan like he promised Hiro as Hiro and Kenji were returning there. It probably would’ve shown Thomas’ adventures in Spain, Russia, America and France as well.

It's seems like most children media is getting a lot of bad quality stuff. The rise of internet content without any care of what is made having millions of views is making childrens tv a lot of harm. Knowing how many adults love Thomas, the franchise should have a family friendly focus, but people now don't watch TV in family, and the series that both kids and adults love are a few, like bluey for example. The main thing about Thomas is that it features talking trains, and this cash grab kids series from Mattel forgot what makes Thomas special.

As much as I love that little blue tank engine, well, it just became a failure and made me loose all hope in the franchise...especially in recent years...and now, well, I just have decided to become a part-time Thomas fan, instead of a full-time one like me many years ago. I still love Thomas, and I will come up with stories from time to time, but I have other interests that I'd prefer to focus on.

I think a lot of toy companies don't fully understand that also kids want great stories and great products. Kids watching Thomas watch Thomas because he is a train! If you want to introduce stories of other cultures, make sure they are relevant to the rail industry and travel experience! For example, they could talk about some festivals and perform them in train carriages...for which you would need Thomas and his friends to make sure to set up everything properly on time! And if the trains start behaving in unrealistic ways, kids that like train - hence Thomas viewers - would hate that. Kids want trains behaving as trains, on tracks, pulling freight and passengers around the country, helping other trains in difficulty, running with confidence in dark tunnels etc. What the hell were those scenes with cars carrying trains on top of them? Running on vertical loops? WHAT!?

I have friends who were into other Mattel franchises (i.e. American Girl) and the fact there are parallels in those franchises to Thomas really tells you everything you need to know about Mattel

The reboot is such a disappointment like its was fine why would you need to reboot it 💀

My Son is 3 and he likes Thomas. He calls the oldest series "Doo Doo Thomas" (took a while to realise he called it that because his grandad was singing the theme tune "doo doo, doo doo..."). He calls the Brenner Era "Big Thomas" and the catastrophic All Engines Go "Silly Thomas". Good boy. I do like the addition of Rebecca and Nia, but not at the expense of pushing Edward and Henry out. I enjoy watching "Doo Doo Thomas" and "Big Thomas" with him, but if only I could find a way of hiding "Silly Thomas"!

Well, I think adding Nia and Rebecca into the Steam team is a fantastic idea, but they can't replace Edward and Henry.

I feel like something that pissed off fans even more about replacing Henry and Edward in the bwba reboot was that even though they already had several established female characters, Mattel completely made new ones.

"Will the franchise ever get back on track?" Honestly i think thats a hard no because even if they did sold it off what other options do they have?

Thing about Edward and Henry is that even during the Brenner era, the writers always struggled with them. Due to being part of the central cast, they NEEDED to be included, even if they had nothing substantial for them to do. On the bright side at least they still made appearances during BWBA and it felt more natural than them NEEDING to be there due to their status, and they didn't up and vanish into thin air like 80% of the cast when S8 started. Remember the whole "Emily replaced Duck" fiasco?

10:23 To give AEG credit, the merchandise is becoming accurate to the show again, and marketing has gotten slightly better. But we aren’t out of the woods yet. The show’s still not all that good, and some of the merch isn’t good either. Not to mention that some of the promotion is also notably gone.

As someone who has loved Thomas as a child it really saddens me how Mattel has make a lot of changes in the show and their toys are so not better than what fisher price did and rebooting our beloved show we grew up on and turning it into an horrible, putrid, violating 2d animated show for Preschoolers Hopefully the rights would expire either Hasbro or PBS kids would get the rights to it and reboot everything from scratch and revert it back to the clsssjc style and a bit of the HIT era as well

While the end of the original series was a bit of a disappointment, I still got faith in Mattel to deliver a much more quality product as in the upcoming Marc Forster film late next year. I know some people have been complaining about the movie being AEG but live action, but those people should take a step back and look at projects like Hot Wheels and Barney being more adult oriented like the Barbie movie we got last year. So there’s a good chance that we’ll see something appeal for both the young and old for Thomas’s 80th anniversary!

I think I should introduce my kids when I have them one day to Thomas by showing them fan videos and Seasons 1-5.

Amazing video Cosmic. The think the introduction of more undeveloped female and male characters cause the show to go down. Like, how come you say your show is not diversifying enough when you don't even use the already developed female and male characters like Hiro and Mavis.

I definitely enjoyed watching this! The editing was simple but affective. Not to mention the narration was like I was watching a short documentary! 👍 I also appreciate that you avoided calling it out by saying the “w” word because of the divisive changes. While I DO support diversity and inclusion etc. I can agree that there’s a right way and a wrong way of doing it. Especially if we’re talking about unnecessary changes that never caused problems in the first place. However just like you mentioned it would be better if those female trains came alongside with the main cast, there would be minimal issue. I used to love the Thomas franchise when I was a kid, but always wondered why it fell off the map as I got older. Now I after watching this I totally get why. Awesome video!

I remember going to the store after I watched Day of diesel and collecting as much Diesels as can find Good times

So, it was Mattel all along. I know Mattel has made numerous mistakes in the past, but the ones they made regarding Thomas takes the cake. They really know how to take childhood staples and ruin them. I was not used to seeing Thomas & Friends in CGI, but I eventually got used to it. But the later seasons 22-24 and the movie: Big World! Big Adventures! Were pretty sloppy. Although I did like Rebecca; it's nice to have a character that makes others feel good about themselves. I think she, as well as Nia, would've worked perfectly in Thomas & Friends had they not replaced Henry and Edward (who are two of my favorite characters) at Tidmouth Sheds. There are ways of adding new characters without replacing others, and sounding so political as well. And Thomas & Friends was really meant to be a show about talking locomotives who go through situations that teach them (along with the viewer) valuable life lessons. But the Big World! Big Adventures! Brand really damaged everything the show truly represented.

It’s funny because the only place it’s still extremely relevant is in Japan, where the entire country is a big huge Disneyland for train spotters.

It's really tragic that the changes to the Thomas franchise did more harm than good. Now, we all know that Marc Forster's Thomas movie is our best bet, but the question is, what next? After that movie, what would become of Thomas afterwards? Would it be back on track as we hoped or would it sink even lower?

My kids grew up in the ‘90s with the original W. Awdry stories, Ringo-narrated videos, AND Bachmann and Hornby electric trains. I’m pretty puritanical about the original stories being the complete canon, because the Rev. trusted kids to understand them. We’d like to see James May narrate a series though!

What I would do is make a children's show about a realistic railway, featuring talking trains like Thomas. I say realistic because most train children's shows portray trains unrealistically. I imagine the main character to be an electric train called Eric, and he will be based on a class 460

Thomas & Friends suffered when the show turned into computer animation. But after the success of the Barbie movie, Mattel has plans to reboot the franchise.

This franchise was literally my childhood and seeing going down this path makes me really sad

It started going downhill from the moment that Britt Allcroft took control - a spiv who had ZERO interest in the whole concept, but was solely focused on MONEY!! Two reasons which gave the series such a feeling of authenticity were, firstly, that EVERY story told in the books written by the Rev. Wilbert Awdrey, and his son Christopher, were based on actual events on British Railways and the preceding companies; and, secondly, that every action taken by the human characters was in accordance with the British Railways Rule Book.

As a fan, I would say the reason the show fell off was because it completely disregarded its characters, and the realism of the earlier show. However, realistically, I think it's more due to the fact that Thomas now has nothing that separates it from any other modern children's media. What would a child gain watching it, when there are dozens of shows that are already exactly like it?

Also I remember someone saying a while back that the Thomas brand is on the decline because less people remember the heyday of steam locomotives.

Frankly the only people keeping the franchise alive now are those creating the fan story's

I'd say that we form a society and fix EVERYTHING on the Thomas franchise to make it go uphill again (and continue the original show)

I only wish that they had adapted Mountain Engines at some point in the franchise, ideally the Gullane/Hit era. If there could ever be a rival to Skarloey's ghost in terms of disturbing crashes and aftermath, it'd be that of Godred.

7:57 this actually infuriates me. Henry was one of my favorites as a kid...

If I remember correctly, with the exception of 'Hero of The Rails, the other Sharon Miller specials were on Netflix until they were removed for unknown reasons.

As Thomas fans, we have to save Thomas franchise from Mattel! They're still ruined our childhood favorite.

Thomas & Friends was my childhood hero, who raised me from a kid into a teenager almost an adult. I really hate AEG and wish that they could bring back the original series.

Ever since the cheap Thomas push along I go in my head and think saying (I miss the take alongs and other merch 😢)

As a Thomas fan I don't watch Thomas anymore but watch other KZfaqrs Thomas and I remember seeing Alot of Thomas toys in almost every retail store now I hardly seeing Thomas toys at all. And I sold all of my Thomas collection 4 years ago . And now maybe in the future I'll probably start collecting the old tomy Thomas that I never had before and maybe some old Trackmaster as well.

It being stuck in a 1pm weekday timeslot on pbs kids for years (you know, when all the KIDS were at SCHOOL) was the biggest killer of the show in my opinion.

The Thomas franchise used to be so good back then, but not anymore all because of Mattel, this is all Mattel’s fault for ruining the Thomas franchise, instead of replacing Edward and Henry with Nia and Rebecca in the steam team, they should’ve added two new births at Timouth Sheds just for Nia and Rebecca that way Mattel won’t have to replace Edward and Henry with Nia and Rebecca and I really like the thumbnail by the way

My childhood was around 2009-2014, this is when the transition between model Thomas and cg Thomas took place. Imma be honest even as a kid I didn’t touch the CG Thomas, there was no way I could watch the series if it wasn’t with the model trains, even if the quality of the CG series were good. Also in terms of the model Thomas, I preferred watching the older versions cause of the stronger stories, prettier aesthetics and better music, shout out to Accidents Will Happen and Rockin on the Railway. Those episodes didn’t air on TV, it would usually be between the more modern models series and CG one, but I had them on DVD. Even when it came to toys, I only wanted the trains with the magnets that could work on my Thomas table with the wooden tracks instead of the ones with no magnets. Also I would stay away from those action toy sets that had Thomas doing some outlandish shit. So all and all, even my dumb child ass liked the older ones, and seeing what has happened to it now just makes me sad.

I stopped watching Thomas when the episodes were no longer narrated by Ringo, so I guess I only ever saw the first 3 seasons. I'm sorry to hear that things devolved a lot further in the later years.

The tv series should of ended when the film disastrous Thomas and the Magic Railroad came out in 2000. By then most of the episodes based from the Railway Series books had been done. Now the Thomas franchise is just become an oversaturated parody of itself, something that would get Rev Wilbert Awdry depressed in his grave.

It makes me very upset on how deep of a downward spiral thomas has been going in the past few years. I grew out of thomas in 2012-13, but i continued watching it once i heard it got better starting with s17. And when bwba came out, i honesty didn't care for it & the only episodes i saw from bwba were the episodes taking place in sodor. And then well.....aeg speaks for itself. It's just.....wrong I fear for the future of thomas, specifically, lack of future for thomas after how terrible mattel has been treating thomas

Up until recently I haven't kept up with much of anything Thomas related for over a decade. I grew up on the original live action show and lost interest when it went CGI. Sad to see what's happened to it in the modern day, I wish I didn't check out what the state of the show currently is.

I miss the 2000s toys :< they were so diverse and I remember the time I brought harvey sadge to see go downhill 😢

Hit Entertainment Season, Mattel Seasons, all engines go:… Thomas? None of that could truly destroy the Thomas franchise, if it ain’t really part of it. All of that is nothing more than a crude adaptation, officially owned it may be, you’ll always end up with a different product, if you change the recipe (or in this case nuke it). The Railway Series & TTTE&F, are constructed with quality story telling, characters, lore, etc., and naturally reflected quality. Besides, a genre of media, books, movies, games, etc., can never truly parish so long as the fans and people who enjoy it remember and continue to stoke its flame, as denoted via there own Thomas based content, and their assortment of media surrounding it in there home.

That thumbnails makes it look like Thomas was trying to Bury The Light Deep Within!!!

Nah its True, they changed all their voices, personalities, looks, got rid of the CGI, it aint the same

I unlocked a new fear: All Engines Go!

Good video! If I was a television producer and writer, I would get the show back on track. This is how I would do it. I would aim the show for order audience and families because they would be parents that grew up with the show as kids and also, I would aim the show for a new generation of kids. I would also good back to the classic roots, and I would bring back Edward and Henry to the sheds and they would be with Nia and Rebecca. I would also have Thomas grounded on Sodor so Thomas traveling around the world is done. I would try something new with the show something that hasn't been done before and I would do a series story arc.

I grew up loving Thomas and I’ve got my 2 year old into it as well. He loves the Brenner era (I didn’t know that’s what it was called until I watched this!) but the Big World Big Adventures has put him off, he rarely sits through a full episode when before he sat silently for the whole thing and then chatted to me about it afterwards. A huge frustration to me is that the old episodes aren’t shown anywhere. Why don’t any of the streaming services have seasons 1-17? We have watched a lot of the original series on KZfaq and he loves them as well, I’m sure there would be an audience for them And don’t get me started on All Engines Go. Deary me…

I still have no idea how BWBA and AEG are made by the same people as S17-S21

Now, as much as I like the Brenner-Era and it's my favourite 3rd era (With the Classic-Era being my 1st favourite and the HiT-Era my 2nd favourite), I have to admit it is disappointing of the lack of marketing. The Thomas toys in 2014-Present are also really disappointing. The BWBA-Era is definitely the worst era of the show. The only episodes are the era I like and consider canon are An Engine of Many Colours, School of Duck, Rosie is Red, Hut the Truck, Free the Roads, Heart of Gold, The Great Little Railway Show and Thomas and the Royal Engine. Everything else of the era is....just terrible. As All Engines Go......it's even worse. The animation is awful, the design of the characters look ugly (Just like the Mane Six in The Last Problem) and the episodes are just bad (Expect More Than a Pretty Engine which is the only episode I like). Say what you will about the HiT-Era, at least their marketing was a lot better.

Actually, I quite like Nia, the little Indian locomotive. I named one of my own models (a sugar plantation engine) after her. But then my step children are half-Indian, so I'll admit to being biased. Thomas's world actually disappeared in England long, long ago, so having some appropriate new racial models is actually sensible. I love the general accuracy of the various new engines etc; there's a Hiesler in one film, I notice, and a Marion shovel. Very clearly someone has done a lot of detailed background research into some very unusual or obscure locomotive types, and as a fan of such engines, I enjoy that. What does irritate me are the technical impossibilities - Hiro and Nia for example, couldn't run on Sodor alongside Thomas, they're the wrong track gauge, and most of the US and European engines would be physically far too big to go under the bridges. And oh, dear, English trains had a far more varied headlight code than the films seem aware of - every one of them displays the code for a goods train - one lamp above the right hand buffer - even when they're hauling express passenger trains! Some of us are 'trained' to notice these things.........

The main reason Thomas was in decline is simple. It was Thomas & The Magic Railroad, and that started the 20 year period downfall. Nevermind the successful marketing.

What doesn't help is Mattel's refusal to reprint old Thomas DVD's, as well as pushing new ones.

What spoiled Thomas for me was when they started bouncing and moving around while sitting still, kinda like Chuggington, season 19/20 can't recall exactly when it started.

Luckily there are still a ton of KZfaqrs out there who have taken it upon themselves to keep the spirit of the original show alive through fan made content.

I guess Diesels weren't the danger the steam trains thought they were, they should have been looking out for soulless corporations.

It's all Mattel's Fault That's all I've gotta say about that

I grew up during the best Thomas era, the original series. I liked that it was a live action storytelling and that really made it unique. The characters were trains but their stories were told through the narrator. The narrators were amazing as well, each brought something different to the stories, despite being the same script. I watched some newer CGI episodes with some younger relatives a while back and honestly it just doesn't hit the same as the episodes that were done in the live action format.