Trackmaster 3.0?

This product is simply another reason why Tomy should just be restored as the primary license holder for Thomas products. Mattel keeps throwing, apologies for my tone, dirt on store shelves and there's no wonder why all the Thomas sections in my local stores have become relatively barren and unkept. It's unfortunate that Mattel doesn't understand the reason why Thomas and his merchandising are still able to exist is in most part because of the love and interest that the older fans have maintained in them. I truly hope Mattel leans this quickly...

They won't.
FisherPiece(...of cr@p) simply doesn't care.
They are beyond greedy, and seem determined to ruin the Trackmaster line.
Their CEOs get paid millions of dollars to remain completely out of touch and detached from thier customers, and pay no attention to maintaining any continuity or the integrity of the Trackmaster name.

I saw some episodes of the new season today and was very disappointed. Mattel are making allot of bad decisions with the Thomas brand.

FisherPiece has shamelessly begun to warp its characters, and has seized/embraced (and now is exploiting) the "multiculturalism" and "diversity" platforms purely for profit.

I’m kinda glad I focus my own collection on “real world” Plarail stuff!

Unfortunately, I’m also a parent with two kids in the target age range for Thomas stuff. Some of the design and marketing decisions Mattel has made with the various Thomas toy lines the past year or two haven’t set well with me. While I liked the new couplers on the revamped Adventures line, it made them incompatible with Take n Play. Of course, you could use the special adapters but I think there must’ve been about 5 sets of those made! The re-do of the track connecters was unnecessary and I never saw any adapter pieces for those either.

The new wooden line is a huge disappointment and the proprietary connectors on the track seems specifically designed to hack off kids and parents who’ve been able to connect the earlier tracks to other wooden rail systems.

And in a time when many people are dropping cable TV, Mattel gets the “brilliant” idea to launch the allegedly new and improved Thomas on Nickelodeon here in the US. That ends about 30 years of it being on public television and since Nick is now “premium” level in many markets, kids like mine don’t see new episodes anymore, even if those episodes are mushy and dumbed down.

The whole thing reeks of both cynicism and desperation that really turns me off as a parent and customer. Oddly, having a new, push-along line in the same gauge as Trackmaster (and also various wooden systems) is the LEAST irritating part about this whole debacle for me! What stinks about this is the underlying assumption that parents and collectors have a magic money tree to go harvest every time an older line is orphaned and new line is introduced. The “diverse, inclusive, multicultural” stuff might temporarily quell the whining ninnies at Tumblr but my kids just want cool toys of characters they like. It’s something they’ve done for years anyway (consider the popularity of Hiro or Ashima) but without the self-congratulatory corporate blather.

"Quell the whining ninnies at tumblr" lol
Nice one!!

(09-13-2018, 10:37 PM)fred16850 Wrote: This product is simply another reason why Tomy should just be restored as the primary license holder for Thomas products. Mattel keeps throwing, apologies for my tone, dirt on store shelves and there's no wonder why all the Thomas sections in my local stores have become relatively barren and unkept. It's unfortunate that Mattel doesn't understand the reason why Thomas and his merchandising are still able to exist is in most part because of the love and interest that the older fans have maintained in them. I truly hope Mattel leans this quickly...

Mattel should give up on the Thomas range and give it back to Tomy. If they did, they'll bring the Plarail range to the US and discontinue Trackmaster alltogether. Overall, Plarail is WAY BETTER than Trackmaster 2.0 all along. Trackmaster items from 2006/2007-2014 are good but the new Trackmaster range is a mess. I honestly agree with you

If only there was some way we could get to Mattel... If enough people from this community and other parts of the Thomas/Railroading community speak up, it could in the very least elicit a response from them. Though Mattel might not be willing to give the Thomas brand up, I could imagine them making a compromise where Plarail items are allowed to be distributed in the US while Mattel gets some percentage of the profits earned.

I think I recall Mattel losing the rights for Thomas to TOMY and then Mattel buying HiT entertainment pty ltd lock stock and barrel for $680 million or so, they still honored the deal made with TOMY and we have long been wondering how long it was for and if the rights will expire. Mattel are not going to just give up the rights to Thomas it is a huge winner for them. These trackmaster engines probably cost $2 per unit to make and they can sell for up to $25 (thats these new turbo ones). Many have messaged and wrote to mattel (myself included) about the bad direction they are taking the brand and lack of compatibility between older and new. They refuse to listen. I hope this lovely brand is resilient enough to come out of this era strong and go for at least another 70 years!

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/o...ertainment

Well put! I think as long as we stay resilient too, good things are to come.