"It's just for kids"

I'm not gonna make a lot of friends with this one...!
This seems to be a common thing of debate between pretty much every Thomas fan. Do you guys think that the show should still be realistic or the toys detailed even with the target audience being toddlers? Personally, I feel that the show should not be over-the-top unrealistic, as the original Railway Series was intended to be as realistic as possible (besides, you know, the talking train part). The toys, however, need to be exciting for kids (IMO at least) and thus I give them a pass. Do you guys think "It's just for kids" is a legit reason for unrealism in the show and toys?

I say yes and no. I say no to the reason that Thomas & Friends should still be realistic, to teach kids how railways really run. I think that they can have it be unrealistic when they want something dramatic to happen to a character (which seems to happen mostly to Thomas) because it would obviously be too dark to let a major character die. I think that the toys should have play value like the newer Trackmaster so kids don't get bored with the toys. Now I'm not going to gain friends for this either, but if you want realistic, would it really be too hard for us to go with Hornby of Bachmann, because I am sure that some of the users on this site have spent more money on one of these trains than a Bachmann or Hornby model. That said, I agree with your point.
-TrainMan2001

[HankAmericanEngine]

I'm with TrainMan2001 on the realism-

Nitrogen Studios did a stupendous job with the 4 chuffs per wheel rotation (e.g., four puffs of steam out of the funnel per one full revolution [turn] of an engine's wheels); Arc only does this on occasion, and I can name the few times I have seen it in specials and episodes:

Specials:

The Adventure Begins
- Gordon tricks Thomas
- Runaway James

Episodes:

Henry Spots Trouble
- Henry running away in reverse from Gordon (to be honest, who wouldn't?)

Again, Nitrogen isn't perfect and did the one chuff per wheel rotation, but they did nail the realism of the steam engines starting up and coming to a stop splendidly, as well as the proper 4 chuffs per rotation on close-ups; again, there was a hiccup here and there, but the realism of an actual steam engine operating was present.

honestly, kids are going to get bored faster by a fancy pants layout that cant be build in different ways or connected on another layout.

how many generations of kids have been raised on blue track, both in the states and in japan?

myself, ive put 25+ years into blue track, and still get more ideas than i can handle when planning. when i try and use trackmaster, my mind goes blank and i give up due to so many specialised pieces that only fit in one place. [whoever designed girders and riser steps that cant fit on top of each other can take a running jump]

i would rather be handed a box of 100 blue tracks than a box of 1000 trackmaster tracks. any child can have much more fun with blue track because it will work more often than not. trackmaster, especially the new stuff, kids cant put together on their own, and amazon reviews contain a number of complaints from adults who found the instructions hard to follow.

as to the tv show, i always prefer the old episodes, but i dont pay enough attention to new ones to mind what they do, lol]

[Ucwepn]

I liken Trackmaster and tomy trains to lego, in the past lego came in pieces and you could build anything you wanted, same with tomy and to a lesser extent trackmaster 1, with trackmaster 2 there are so many set specific track sections like the new lego sets have set specific pieces and it has all lost the imagination factor.

I would love a "real" set than the horrible types like the new shipwreck rails set...what happened to making stations and turntables?? Bridges and tunnels?? I would buy those up in a heart beat! My son takes the trackmaster trains and puts them on his wooden tracks (he doesn't care if they get stuck he just keeps them going) he says he likes that sodor better than the grey sodor (such an imagination). I actually just took apart a piece of the set that comes with Skiff because the button to release the train does not work properly and frustrates him to no end. So I took it out, and because the way they are made you can't connect anything to it and have them run continuously. It drives me nuts!!! If it is "just for kids" why oh why is it so irritating?
That being said they still get played with daily I just wish we could get some decent accessories.

I liken Trackmaster and tomy trains to lego, in the past lego came in pieces and you could build anything you wanted, same with tomy and to a lesser extent trackmaster 1, with trackmaster 2 there are so many set specific track sections like the new lego sets have set specific pieces and it has all lost the imagination factor.

^^^^^This.

I also wish there were more trackmaster sets that could be put together in different configurations, which is one of the main appeals of toy trains IMO, and honestly that one Railway Builder Bucket thing is a step in the right direction. As for Lego, I agree that the creativity isn't much there anymore but I've seen some crazy stuff made out of pieces in a set and the pieces are more diverse nowadays

[Super]

What...these toys are for kids?...I think not!
These toys are for adults to buy to play with them with their kids.

I liken Trackmaster and tomy trains to lego, in the past lego came in pieces and you could build anything you wanted, same with tomy and to a lesser extent trackmaster 1, with trackmaster 2 there are so many set specific track sections like the new lego sets have set specific pieces and it has all lost the imagination factor.

Apologies for just replying now, I haven't been on in a while.

LEGO has always done instructions-based sets, and even though numerous sets come with exclusive pieces, they can still be used in the system in different ways. TrackMaster has it so that there's these large pieces that take up both sides of a loop, so you have to work around that if you want to incorporate into the layout, whereas LEGO has a strict set of guidelines to make sure everything is compatible.

I would love a "real" set than the horrible types like the new shipwreck rails set...what happened to making stations and turntables?? Bridges and tunnels?? I would buy those up in a heart beat! My son takes the trackmaster trains and puts them on his wooden tracks (he doesn't care if they get stuck he just keeps them going) he says he likes that sodor better than the grey sodor (such an imagination). I actually just took apart a piece of the set that comes with Skiff because the button to release the train does not work properly and frustrates him to no end. So I took it out, and because the way they are made you can't connect anything to it and have them run continuously. It drives me nuts!!! If it is "just for kids" why oh why is it so irritating?
That being said they still get played with daily I just wish we could get some decent accessories.

Yeah, they need to start doing more accessories like turntables, maybe a knapford station, possibly "Henry's Tunnel" from the original series? There is so many possibilities and things they could do to stop the unbelievable and unreal "treasure finding and shipwrecks", and go back to the old with the original series. That's why I think tomy was the better brand.