2014 Trackmaster redesign

[HankAmericanEngine]

While we have already seen what we have been able to purchase, what do you think is going on with all the stuff we haven't seen released yet?

We were expecting Marion on that Severnside Wholesalers website but we got Scared James with the same #SKU in its place, and the listing now says that Marion is discontinued.

We are waiting for the next Greatest Moments wave with a new engine (whose name may be Samson or Skiff), a Scruff pack, and a Flynn pack.

The Fisher-Price website also listed a lot of products with a muddy theme, and the products sound a lot like reskined versions of the 2014 Sodor Snow Storm series products. I managed to retrieve their #SKUs, but they got deleted on the website a few days later, including Muddy Spencer, Muddy Gordon, Muddy Mayhem Expansion Pack, and Mudslide Mountain Set. Another product called Motorized Thomas and Percy Engines was also listed. I didn't get the SKU but based on the description, it just sounded like a value pack of Thomas and Percy.

Thoughts? Speculation?

To be honest, not much of a surprise that the corporation doesn't have plans for making Marion; same could be said of Millie. The company claimed to have been working on making a model, but kept "delaying" the release date; Ferdinand suffered this in 2010 - 2011, begin released in very late of the latter year. To this day, no actual proof of Millie being made has surfaced at all, not even an unpainted prototype.

I think the company is slowly starting to realize their downfall with the new redesign, as the few times I've checked store shelves, 3-packs of Scared James, Timothy, and Gator are all present on the shelves, with 3 of each; when I used to have the money, all of the Gators would disappear that day.

None of the redesign stuff is actually reaping any kind of profit from what I can see, especially as a number of the cons outweigh the pros. Granted that I may be pampered/spoiled by my exceeded expectations from TOMY USA, TAKARA TOMY, and the late HiT Toy Company, there are only a handful of pros I can see to this redesign.

My speculation on the "disappearance" of the "Muddy Mayhem" line was a possible leak from one of the employees to the press when it was not going to be continued whatsoever; besides, if the "Muddy Mayhem" is anything like the "Greatest Moments" 3-pack of "Muddy Ferdinand", I'd rather buy a used "Greatest Moments" Ferdinand from eBay and make him muddy myself.