The face is THE most important part of a character design and when you look at the likes of James, who's face on the TV side of things was consistent for 40 years, only having slightly alterations when the medium changed, the 2026 one sticks out like a sore thumb
"Got you THIS TIME, Stepney"
"They recognized Stepney and Stepney recognized them"
Do you guys ever think about how 'Arry and Bert, as originally conceived, technically debuted in S4?
The James smile is the original from season 1, it has some slight cracks in the paint from sitting in damp conditions for years before we got it. We plan to get it fixed.
Dovetail employee getting kicked out of the office because they tried to take a bathroom break without setting a path first and passed a signal at danger
Interestingly, I don’t think Cranky would’ve lasted as a character as long as he did without Salty, whose episodes cemented him as a personality beyond a one-off crane, but the reverse is also true in that Salty won’t show up unless Cranky’s already there
Let’s be honest James of all characters having the most defective toys in the new range is the most on brand thing to ever happen. This is genuinely something that would happen to him in a rws story after bragging how he’s a main character and has his own toys.
A grim messenger of doom…
Presenting my first engine replica, Yellow Diesel!
This model has been in the works for quite a while now, and you can read more about it in the thread below:
The fact we’re getting the first console Thomas video game since the Wii and it’s an honest to god railroad simulator based off awdry’s sodor map is nothing short of fanfiction