Total brand compatibility?

My big complaint is that they did it after making significant changes to all the lines. The Wooden Railway and Take N Play lines were first reworked so that they weren’t compatible with previous iterations of both lines. Now that they’ve “listened to the consumers”, we’re expected to shell out money yet again for new lines that aren’t fully compatible with the old ones. My son got one or two Trackmaster push along engines but his reaction was not very enthusiastic. I refused to purchase any of the previous, simplified Wooden Railway stuff because it was low quality crap. IMO, the only positive thing to come out of all the changes was the switch to non-magnetic couplers on the Take N Play “Adventures” line. When my son was younger, he damaged a (at the time) fairly expensive TV with the magnets and bashed some dents into a couple pieces of furniture. Of course, those couplers weren’t compatible with the earlier magnetic versions and the size and gauge isn’t compatible with the Push Along line that replaces it.

Nowadays, my son is primarily of fan of the motorized trains and usually prefers Plarail or older Trackmaster. My daughter mostly focuses on the Minis line with some occasional forays into motorized trains. We only buy Fisher Price stuff if there’s a character that Tomy doesn’t make and even then, it’s pretty rare. I’m more than slightly annoyed at the “change and change again” business model Mattel employed with the various Thomas lines and the general lackadaisical treatment of the property as a whole. The whole thing is somewhat shoddy and cynical and the toys are kind of boring over all.