why the change happened

Hi everyone, I think I know why the change of trackmaster happened. A lot of things are competing with mobile devices now. They probably wanted to make the trains as exciting as an app to get the product to sell.

Hi everyone, I think I know why the change of trackmaster happened. A lot of things are competing with mobile devices now. They probably wanted to make the trains as exciting as an app to get the product to sell.

The only thing I appreciate about them is they finally separated the all the engines from their attached cars...other than that...it's like having to eat my plate clean in order to get dessert, only to have a second helping dropped on my plate that I had nearly licked clean!!!

Hi everyone, I think I know why the change of trackmaster happened. A lot of things are competing with mobile devices now. They probably wanted to make the trains as exciting as an app to get the product to sell.

I think that is as good of idea as any. I'd add the new Trackmasters most likely cost less to produce. It's a basic rule of business, sell more product, pay less cost.

So far, these are the facts we have heard word-of-mouth from Fisher-Price.

From Behind the Rails (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjOBBx4HWcU)
Design Director Matt Lauderbach

So when thinking back to when I was a kid and playing with different train sets... I was thinking "What would I want in that next TrackMaster engine?"

The story that's in the show actually we tried to make in our trains and our playsets and it just is this really fun set and that so, we're watching the cartoon and the child at home can actually buy the toy and play along with it and have that whole Thomas experience.

Senior Designer Kyle Hussa-Lietz

We were challenged as a team to make Thomas more exciting than ever.

It took a large team from around the world to create Thomas TrackMaster.

From official Facebook posts:

We have made design enhancements to the TrackMaster line to improve the overall play experience and the excitement little Engineers have come to love and expect of Thomas & Friends products.
We worked hard to maintain compatibility with our old track systems because we know how important this is to you, but our focus on optimizing the product performance required a few design tweaks.

We made the changes because people were often telling us that children had difficulty keeping the track level on uneven surfaces like carpet, resulting in the track pieces separating. We enhanced the track connectors by making them stronger and more realistic with spacings between the railroad ties.

There is still some questions of "why" for a few things but it is surprising how we're actually learning more than we used to from Fisher-Price.

the old saying... if you cant blind them with brilliance, baffle them with bulldust. any old excuse to justify.

[Ucwepn]

it's cost cutting and a design licensing issue, TOMY own the designs of the majority of the old trackmaster designs and all the patents/designs for drive units wheel design etc

these are all legitimate responses. I would just add that they had to make the trains lighter to make the sets more versatile. in addition, with the sets being more versatile it expands the age range. not many 3yr olds can put together these sets.

[Ucwepn]

Let's just say for an example Mattel Trackmaster makes and sells an older version of Duck, Tomy own the design to this Duck and charge Mattel a fee of $2 per item to use the designs (not the actual number just a guessed amount as an example). Now with the Trackmaster train already losing a slice of profit just because of the design which Mattel do not own, They already tried cost cutting measures in the last couple of years (trying to standardize the flat drive unit for the whole range, less wheels, cheaper plastic, different battery terminals, cheaper rolling stock with no loads etc. And the price of the trains reflected this.

So... They redesign the entire range, cut TOMY out altogether, not having to pay a fee to use anyone elses designs because Mattel own HiT entertainment which owns the Thomas brand.

This scenario could also happen but is hypothetical, Mattel wants trackmaster to sell in Asia, Mattel takes the license away from Tomy to produce motorized Thomas toys. Plarail Thomas is now history

"Can't we all just get along!?!"
Such a ridiculously complicated history of production...such a shame it has come to this