Plarail TOMY Thomas NEW RELEASES

Looking at how the AEG sets are designed, I really don't see them becoming the main Thomas line, or selling very well at all.

Think about it, Japanese consumers are probably going to want stuff that works with regular Plarail trains as well, and these sets simply won't.

As for the AEG trains, aside from those ugly wheels, I get the feeling those protruding bumps on the wheels will nix compatibility with regular Plarail simply because they won't be able to fit stations and tunnels without crashing into them...

Finally, I didn't even know AEG was that popular in Japan anyway, it certainly isn't that popular among people I know in the UK, including a relative of mine, who is the perfect age for Thomas but will not watch AEG because, in his very true toddler words, 'not proper Thomas'.

Point is, I think TOMY must acknowledge that consumers, kids and collectors prefer the regular non AEG stuff, but are maybe under duress by Mattel to make something AEG in the Plarail line to keep the overall rights to anything Thomas.

I'd assume the separation of the line is to make it clearly distinct, and my best and most hopeful prediction is that this is like the TOMY 'My First Train Set' which used Plarail track but a unique pull-back Plarail bullet train that wasn't really compatible with much else of the Plarail line, but was more intended as an entry point for the youngest kids.

In any case, I ain't wasting my money on any of this junk lol 🤣 CG engines all the way people, because I make no secrets of how I despise All Engines Go for what it has done to the franchise.

Here we go again:

"Plarail is dead" 😱
"R.I.P. Plarail 1992-2022." 😱
"Plarail! You were the Chosen One! It was said you would destroy AEG, not join it!" 😱

So that the prophets of doom don't get too excited, it should be emphasized that this is definitely a side line of Plarail Thomas products. Look at the green overpass in the Loop Set: there's no way a normal Plarail vehicle could go over it (too steep, too pointy, a normal Plarail train would get stuck on top). Not to mention the loop itself. The Japanese are just releasing some AEG products on the market at the right time: their AEG TV series is about to start, so there will be a need for it.


Let's remember this Plarail Thomas & Friends product:




Has it become a standard Plarail Thomas product? No. Rather, it is just one of the incidental items in the Tomy product line, intended for a narrow, but significant, target group of users (in this case: children from 1.5 years old).

It will be the same with AEG line. And no, Plarail is not dead. As we see in the advertisement for the Map Set, Tomy highlights the fact that regular Plarail Thomas & Friends trains can run on that set. Why would they emphasize such a thing if they intend to abolish them? 

Oh ye, prophets of doom, you may sleep peacefully.

As for the actual appearance of the Tomy AEG vehicles, they look bad. 



The wheels (on motorized engines) are terrible, only half of the middle wheel is visible, and the whole vehicle looks ugly, squashed, and flattened; they are squashed like TM2 engines were. 

Sides = mostly stickers. (Do customers have to apply them themselves?) 
In the case of Thomas, the entire side is one big sticker. Even the window! A very oddly cut window, I might add...



Faces are OK for the AEG, but in terms of design, it's a complete flop. They can't even be compared to the Mattel models, which really look like the characters from the TV series.

I have to admit, though, that I like Tomy's idea of how to combine these two sets:

[Super]

Thanks Mr No 😃
I am a bit confused as to the engines. Are all these motorized characters included in the sets or only Thomas. If so, can it be assumed that the engines will be available by themselves as singles soon or are they already?

It seems that only Thomas is in the set.



Machine translation of the content:

GOGO Thomas Standard ver. (Motor vehicle) (1)
GOGO somersault loop (1)
Kumo & Harold (1)
GOGO Climbing Down A(1)
GOGO Climbing Down B(1)
GOGO Kururin Corner A (1)
GOGO Kururin Corner B(1)
Corner turning part (2)
corner signboard parts (2)
Straight rail (2)
curved rail (4)
1/2 straight rail (1)
Seal (1)
Parts Order Form(1)

The others will probably be sold separately. I think that (all?) engines can be motorized and non-motorized. The motorized ones have ugly wheels (because of the loop, I guess), the non-motorized ones have regular (gray) wheels and a hook on the front. But since non-motorized ones don't have special wheels, they probably can't pass the loop attached to motorized engines. (Just my thoughts.)

Oh look, the small windmill looks kinda cute:

[Super]

Seems like because of the cog wheels and other engines that maybe they planning on releasing more gimmicky sets before the holidays. I am also assuming that we may not be seeing too many tendered engines with cog wheels.

We'll see. There are still no engines on their page, just these two sets. I mean, there are pictures of solo engines (Percy, Diesel, Kana), but they are still not in their web-shop.

But it seems that there will be some novelties in the Tomica Thomas range as well:







Much better proportions than in the case of Plarail AEG.

@Mister No

So Japan are only just about to get AEG on TV?

Hoo boy, good luck... I know I'm biased because I make no secret of my disdain towards AEG but seriously, it's painful to watch if you liked or loved what came previously.

It's like somebody knew what made Thomas good, and what kids enjoyed about it, and stripped it all out in the name of making something cheap, crass and easily commercialised, something that the Rev. Awdry would never, ever have approved of.

I mean, looking into the history of the TV series itself, the Rev. Awdry was hard enough to convince to make the original model era series, but Britt Allcroft managed it with a promise that they would remain true to the books or the spirit of the books as far as possible, and at least until she left the production, I like to think that they managed that, Magic Railroad notwithstanding (even though I love the film, I don't know if Awdry would have)

AEG is basically the lowest point of a managed decline away from the original intentions, and frankly, it's painful to watch.

I think it got worse for me lately with the introduction of Bruno the Brake Car.

I may be an outlier here, but I don't like his character yet, although as someone has pointed me towards, there's certainly some information indicating that maybe things are going to be different and I just need to give them some time; I like to think I try to give things a fair chance, and perhaps this time I need to do just that

It's also slightly ironic how they would introduce him in AEG, when I've discussed the matter with my friends on the spectrum, and we all agreed that we preferred the original series, especially when we were younger and getting to grips with our conditions, because the faces were mainly static, or even in the CG era, had very clear emotions, something people on the spectrum find harder to pick up than most people.

AEG has constantly moving and changing faces, scenery and plot, and while I'm sure that's great for many people, I can only imagine it's actually shut off the series to people who might find it harder to deal with that, and I'm not sure whether to be pleased or offended that they would put a character meant for us in a series that might not actually be that accessible for all of us.

Incidentally, I'm working on a PhD thesis concept to talk about The Railway Series, which is why I've done a lot more research about its history lately I also plan to mention the special connection between the autism spectrum and Thomas, and of course, the merchandising (you guys at BPT will definitely get a shout-out when Plarail gets mentioned, and it will!)

just wanna mention diesel's been gone since 2012 and this is the first time in a decade we've gotten a plarail diesel in 10 years

he's back but its only aeg diesel
monkey's paw!

I also plan to mention the special connection between the autism spectrum and Thomas

Are you implying that Thomas as a character is himself well along the spectrum?  If so I would most certainly agree that a good number of symptoms are present.

No, he meant the franchise as a whole and how it's renowned (or notorious) for its appeal to autistics young and old. If anything, one or two fans have compared Duck's traits to the spectrum in a way that made sense to me when I found it.