thomas and friends mini series

new set looks good!

Thanks Mike, I saw that too, from the looks of it, it might come with two exclusives or two different sets? I can't tell but the Thomas one looks like "Dirty Thomas" and the pictures on the playset tower has dirty James.



What am I going to do with all these playsets.

With this playset being steel works it makes me wonder about the 'steel' series of minis we haven't seen in blind bags or multipacks. Was almost wondering if they were going to be coming out in a 5 pack or something. Just strange that none of them have been released yet even though we've seen pictures of them. Here's also hoping the the minis line for 2017 will be expanded/increased as pretty much everything is now out except for the steel series. Well also the TMNT 9 pack. But I'm sure we'll be seeing that pretty quick.

I was wondering the same thing yesterday. Being early March, it sort of seems like we already know just about every train that is going to be coming out in the 2017 series. I haven't been collecting long enough to know if this has been typical in the past or not.

I can see the Steel series of trains being released in blind bags waves 3 and 4. In the past they have grouped some series to just 2 different waves. The tootsies last year were only in waves 2 and 3 and the DC trains that were in blind bags were only in waves 3 and 4. If you consider the steel series it seems like there are roughly 28 known trains left to be released (assuming the vans are put in blind bags) and last year waves 3 and 4 had 27 total new trains. It's all so random, isn't it?

Although it is curious they haven't been in any multipacks yet. Maybe with the release of this steelworks playset they're treating them as something special kind of like a DC or Tootsie series. Or, like you said, release them in a 5-pack alongside the steel playset. Although I'm just not entirely sure why they would think that's a good idea; they look like cool trains, but don't seem "special" enough to assume they would catch the eye of the casual collector.

As for that set, knowing how clunky the first release was, it is disappointing to see a third iteration of the same exact playset. How many times trains like Toby would get caught in the elevator and how many times a train would get stuck on the plastic railway on the way down made for an occasionally frustrating play experience for my son. They really did a great job with the motorized raceway (even though they still got stuck sometimes on the track), so it would be nice to see them actually introduce a new idea and actually use some imagination. Can't imagine how much money is saved by using a near identical mold for 3 different playsets. I'm having a hard enough time justifying buying the batman set. I'm pretty much holding off until it's literally the last train we need.

So here's something interesting....I was out shopping today and saw the DC 9 packs. The one with Red Tornado and the one with Arctic Batman. Now here's the interesting part....they had weights in them!!!! So even though I had them. I had to pick them up again. Will be swapping out the in-weighted ones. I found them in Vancouver Canada. Hoping these are new and that maybe just maybe we'll be seeing weights back in the MINIS again

So here's something interesting....I was out shopping today and saw the DC 9 packs. The one with Red Tornado and the one with Arctic Batman. Now here's the interesting part....they had weights in them!!!! So even though I had them. I had to pick them up again. Will be swapping out the in-weighted ones. I found them in Vancouver Canada. Hoping these are new and that maybe just maybe we'll be seeing weights back in the MINIS again

Today I saw a 3 pack with one duplicate, I think it was Millie that was duplicate, one of them was visibly much better quality, brighter colors, better lines, etc. I didn't buy it, but if I had to guess, one had weight in it and the other didn't.

To everyone,
She's a good seller and an honest seller. She doesn't mis-lead at all. She's easy to get ahold of and ask questions. She has a good amount of hard to find minis and will take minis out of playsets for people that just want the mini. People that are buying exclusives like comic-con items, know what they're buying and know what to look for. If you're buying something on eBay and have questions about the item, just contact the seller. Most sellers are really easy to deal with. Also take the time to read the item description. It's always buyer beware and just use common sense.

I work with this seller a lot too. She has been very good, very nice and accommodating. Honest is had been my only experience. Just vouching for her is all.

So here's something interesting....I was out shopping today and saw the DC 9 packs. The one with Red Tornado and the one with Arctic Batman. Now here's the interesting part....they had weights in them!!!! So even though I had them. I had to pick them up again. Will be swapping out the in-weighted ones. I found them in Vancouver Canada. Hoping these are new and that maybe just maybe we'll be seeing weights back in the MINIS again

I find it interesting that that set also came with no weights. The set I have has weights in them. I figured the set with Ferdinand mr. Freeze and the 4 pack with superman James were the newest 2 DC sets, and they are the only Dc trains I have with no weights. I'd swap them too if I were you. You can see the weight right through the arctic batman. Still potentiall hopeful news.

And just for fun, here's a few comparisons of some old and new models of the same trains side by side from different views. I won't even say which is which. You can decide for yourself if their differences are worth the bit of fuss or not.

One small thing to mention, while talking about the newer trains, when I opened the pack with mr freeze Ferdinand, I had to snap the back of the train together on most of them as the back of each piece wasn't quite all the way together. And many of them the head pieces were oddly a bit loose. I don't remember noticing others ever having small detail issues like that.

I find it interesting that that set also came with no weights. The set I have has weights in them. I figured the set with Ferdinand mr. Freeze and the 4 pack with superman James were the newest 2 DC sets, and they are the only Dc trains I have with no weights. I'd swap them too if I were you. You can see the weight right through the arctic batman. Still potentiall hopeful news.

Maybe the sets released in Canada have the weights and the sets in the U.S. didnt? We'll see once the power rangers and the other DC 9 pack arrives up here.

Still haven't seen wave 2 or the new 4 packs in Canada. All I've seen up here is wave 1, 2 of the 7 packs and the first 4 3-packs. Product has been pretty slow getting up here.

Lots of Power Rangers, All new DC 9 pack except the one with boomerang Sydney are in my stores. Have PR 4 packs and new DC 4 packs also. I'm in Cali. But 2017/2 is pretty illusive.

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I remember months ago seeing the the spongebob 9-pack and I still see the 4 pack at times, but that's it. I don't believe I have any hope finding it locally at this point. Ended up finding a deadshot set for Pablo tonight.

I got the 2 pop-up sets today in the mail. They're pretty basic but, man, my kids loved them. Played with them for hours. I was really surprised by that. The oldest loved folding it up and opening it again and again.

See SB 9 packs at all my Walmarts in Cali.