All Engines Go NEWS

i love your backdrop, mister no. really suits the festive setting.

@GGF I definitely disapprove of AEG and hope it gets canceled soon for what it has done to Thomas’s legacy, but I personally think the Miller Era is worse than BWBA or even AEG for me because it is unwatchable. I cannot stand the dull animation, the dialogue and plots are abhorrent, and it’s so boring overall. While there are a lot of undesirable aspects about BWBA and AEG, there are still a few fun elements that make them not a complete chore to sit through if you forget they were “inspired” by Awdry.

Now, I think AEG and its predecessor did much more harm to the franchise (at least we got good toys during the Miller Era and the show eventually got much better). What we have now is much worse it terms of impact, but it is at least still semi-enjoyable to many as a kids’ show. This is just my take, though

First (low quality) pics of some new AEG sets.

Thomas & Cranky Motorized Set

Percy and the Mail Set

Nia at the Harbor Set

Push Along sets:

Thomas and the Cows Loop

Diesel Loop
I think we had a picture of the next one, but now we have the name:

Push Along Thomas At Crystal Cavern Set

No big surprises, huh? 

My daughter loves AEG because she says it’s cute. My son hates with the burning heat of a thousand suns! I also think my daughter likes watching it to annoy her brother!

I found it much “younger” with a more limited appeal. While older iterations of Thomas seem to have more broad appeal, AEG seems more like Bubble Guppies or Paw Patrol (also Nelvana productions) with maybe an appeal to 3-6 year olds. Thomas always had a major nod to rail fans while AEG is just a cute little preschool kids’ show with anthropomorphic trains.

Oddly though, I did find AEG more focused and less self conscious than BWBA. It lacks BWBA’s uh… ham fisted, cringey approach.

Having had the chance to check the AEG Thomas toys in person, I wasn’t impressed. They remind me of those preschool “My First Thomas” type toys from some years back. My son was, unsurprisingly, highly disappointed and even my wife (who normally doesn’t really care) thought they looked like baby toys.

Oh well, we had a good run here at Chez OTR! The kids are kind of aging out of the Thomas line anyway but it looks like we won’t be buying any more new Fisher Price Thomas toys.

I just watch the Unlucky Tug’s video that GGF posted above and yeah, I agree with it! Not going into another diatribe but he’s definitely spot-on here.

My son hates [AEG] with the burning heat of a thousand suns! I also think my daughter likes watching it to annoy her brother!

AEG seems more like Bubble Guppies or PAW Patrol (also Nelvana productions) with maybe an appeal to 3-6 year olds.

Having had the chance to check the AEG Thomas toys in person, I wasn’t impressed. They remind me of those preschool “My First Thomas” type toys from some years back. My son was, unsurprisingly, highly disappointed and even my wife (who normally doesn’t really care) thought they looked like baby toys.

LOL, "burning heat of a thousand suns". That's a whole new idiom for me (and one of the funniest I've heard).

Nelvana had no involvement with PAW Patrol (made by Spin Master), and BWBA would be the more apt comparison. I always thought AEG was trying to look like MLP:FiM, but the characters in Bubble Guppies really do have the same obnoxious "preschooler" faces. Nelvana made so many well known shows with much better styles, yet Mattel chose to go with this.

Even the My First Thomas designs (both Golden Bear and FP) still looked somewhat machine like and not like bizarre "creatures", despite FP's Railway Pals having weird arched running boards. They didn't have features like oversized boilers, angled funnels, tiny wheelbases and huge (or any) whistles too far from each other.

Nelvana animated The Adventures of Tintin series (adaptations of herge's comics) which is an awesome tv series, so not everything they did was "bad"

Nah, I’m not taking any shots at Nelvana, nor is the stuff they produce actually “bad”. I think they’ve been quite successful at making shows that appeal to kids in the 2-6 year old range. Like you said, they did a good job on their iteration of Tintin, so they know how to be respectful of source material. Nelvana was tasked with reinventing Thomas because Mattel has pretty much crashed the franchise (there’s a long story there but those of you who are hardcore fans know much of the background already). They created what Mattel wanted; a fun little show for kids that pays scant respect to its source or it’s older fans. Like many such franchises, it’s a generic mix of acceptable concepts of the moment, wearing the facade of a respected, beloved franchise.

That’s pretty much the world today. Take a venerable old name and slap it on some generic “product”. (Why yes, I have been buying power tools lately!)

As I said above, I give AEG some credit for being nothing more that a happy little generic kids’ show with characters who are locomotives. BWBA was almost too cringey to watch and excessively “try hard” self conscious. Neither is what True Fans want or like but if Mattel sells a lot of toys and makes a lot of money in licenses, it accomplishes what they want.

New Push Along sets - boxes:

(Have they given up on the rather impractical packing of trains in clear plastic on top of the box?)

New Push Along Emily! This time they didn't forget her distinctive big middle wheel!