u/Winter_Sweet827

250 Year of America!

Here is to 250 more!

While his books may not have been as memorable as his dad's

and while the lore he revealed may not be for everyone

I still respect Christopher Awdry

Feel free to ask me about anything in the Sodorverse ranging from the timeline

to characters

To rewrites

Lets say in this timeline the war time mixup never occured

Where would Thomas go?

who would be the number 1 engine?

Lets say in this timeline everything still plays out the same, except without Thomas

For those who don't know

Cousin Stuwie is a E2 class 0-6-0 configurated LBSCR tank engine that is a devil and evil. He escaped jail to "visit" his cousin Thomas. When he arrives, Sir Topham Hatt mistakes him as Thomas but when Thomas arrives, he sees the difference. Cousin Stuwie created a mind-control machine and controlled Henry, Edward, and Rosie's minds. He is wanted by the police for various crimes, and at the end of the episode, the police finally capture him.

Cousin Stuwie is a E2 class 0-6-0 configurated LBSCR tank engine painted dark blue with red lining.

Cousin Stuwie was created by the youtube user moly242 in the year 2009.Cousin Stuwie is a reskin of Mstnoodle's Thomas model witha MS Paint generated face on it, in total, Stuwie has 7 faces.

Cousin Stuwie caharacter and episode is based on Cousin Dev, a character and story from Bear Behaving Badly.

The video was created in the year 2009 as a 4 parter, although it's not the best quality, it is a very nostalgic piece to early Thomas fans on the internet. If you would add all parts of the video together, it would become a 20:48 minute long video

So after all these years

what do you think of Cousin Stuwie?

Rules:

A limit of 5

They can be what ifs that only are about the story and not behind the scenes

Have fun!

I honestly kinda wish Splatter and Dodge had returned instead of Diesel 10 for Calling All Engines

For one, it would mean Diesel 10's character wouldn't be ruined

and second, it could give Splatter and Dodge some redemption (you can remove 'Arry and Bert entirely given what they did to Stepney in their debut)

What do you think

How would the franchise have played out had Splatter and Dodge become mainstays?

How do you think that would change the franchise?

Let me know how you would do something like this

Its a franchise I have mixed feelings about

But I won't be lying that the first film was great

Here's to 20 more years of this wonderful franchise

I seriously don't get why people STILL hate on Billy

sure, he was a brat to Thomas, but hasn't Thomas also been kinda bratty himself?

I also blame HiT for not using BIlly more but then again i digress.

People will ALWAYS bring up how bad Billy is but in reality?

Billy is FAR less worse than the likes of 'Arry, Bert and Diesel, characters who do NOT deserve to call Sodor their home AT ALL

If people hate on Billy for being designed merely for toys

Then they should apply that same logic to every HiT Era character and S5 newbie except Cranky and Dowager Hatt

Also, its been years since Billy made his debut in the TVS, can't we just move on?

I will never understand this fandom's double standards on what Is and isn't good

Like, TATMR is a mixed bag yet people sing the praises of Diesel 10, an extremely unrealistic character

Yet come to BWBA, they are just whining and complaining over how Edward and Henry were shafted in favor of Nia and Rebecca

But, to be honest

I think its for the best that Edward was made a secondary character

His arc already ended in Edward's Exploit so there really isn't much you can do after that

and besides, I don't think Edward would hate Nia (unlike what CERTAIN) people say

besides, Nia had to go through homelessness

something Toby had to deal with and a thing in the real world

I do admit Nia's livery is a little over the top and I HATE how she was used just to represent Kenya

But if you rewrite her character, you can work around that

now onto Rebecca

Lets be honest

Henry has had an extremely rough tenure in the show

going from another grumpy big engine

To a scaredy cat

Its really hard to write for Henry when it isn't just him being sick, scared or arrogant

That being said, when Henry is good, his stories can be really good

However, I do kinda love Rebecca a little more given she has a distinct personality and honestly has alot more potential than...........certain engines

Now

My final verdict

while I am sad Edward and Henry were reduced to side characters

I'd much rather them be side characters than be flanderized and out of character

So what do you think?

So its okay when Thomas is being a massive jerk

but its wrong when Billy calls people bossy?

Make the logic make sense people!

This can range from rewriting characters to writing alternate timelines

For a character to count as "wasted potential", they need to demonstrate that they had any potential at all to begin with in their debut stories

A good example of a character with wasted potential is Derek, an unreliable engine facing an early withdrawal because how often has a diesel character been threatened with the prospect of scrap?

A bad example of a character with wasted potential is Thomas, not because Thomas is bad or anything but because Thomas was going to get his branchline anyway, making him saving James alot less meaningful

A big part of why I love Skarloey and Rheneas is because they have more personality than just being old and wise, Skarloey refused to give up when he broke a spring when pulling Sir Handel's train

He was willing to get his train home regardless of his state

That is determination from a little engine

What did Stepney do?

put Caroline through hell and pull the express with Duck which makes no sense given Duck, Thomas and Percy all couldn't even make it to crovan's gate when they triple headed the express

Also, Stepney in the TVS was horribly mishandled

while I do love Rusty To The Rescue, It did mess up Stepney's real life backstory and make less sense of the Skarloey Railway

Thats another reason why I prefer Wilbert The Forest Engine over Stepney

Wilbert may not have flaws but he's such a wholesome character I just can't help but love him

Not to mention, they removed the real world from Stepney's stories

I can understand why they put Toby's branchline on Sodor because realistically how can Toby get to Sodor coming from East Angelia?

Now lets discuss Nia and Rebecca

Nia in the BWBA movie was really fun and I love just how sassy she is, I feel her reason for moving to Sodor could have been explored more if she simply had a mean controller that didn't care for her

I honestly wish they used her being from Africa more

pair her up with Toby and you got some good potential

Now onto Rebecca

I love the fact she isn't a snooty big engine and is just such a happy go lucky sort

Just like Peter Sam

She and Gordon clash really well and I really wish they did more with her and Gordon instead of shoving Thomas into everything.

In conclusion

Nia and Rebecca are better than Stepney and I will die on that hill

Its no secret that Thomas is a character I have mixed feelings about

On one hand his character arc in his first book was amazing and really well written

But on the other hand, he is extremely inconsistent, overused and the writers don't know what to do with him

Thats why I have decided to explain how I would fix Thomas if I had to write him.

First lets start with his basis

I don't like the E2's at all because they just don't fit what Thomas is supposed to be.

next, his backstory

The idea of an E2 Tank engine making it from Brighton to Sodor is extremely silly so I am going to change Thomas' basis into an industrial andrew barclay tank engine

HIs personality

I'm still deciding on this but I'll tell you what I would do with Thomas' personality in my AU

Thomas in my AU is a young engine, he often does need to rely upon older engines for their experience, he can be somewhat cheeky and fussy and often wants to be a really useful engine.

Now lets rewrite Thomas character arc, shall we.

His book will remain largely unchanged but I decided to change when Thomas arrived because I want to make him the youngest engine on the NWR at this point

I simply just want Thomas to stand out in the same way James stands out

However, I want Thomas to have a more sympathetic backstory so my backstory for him is that he used to work in an industrial yard and was constantly berated and bullied by the bigger engines

Thomas was a poor steamer and often struggled badly

His controller, fed up finally sold Thomas to an engine workshop where Sir Topham Hatt bought him to be the new station piloit for the new station at Tidmouth

Thomas worked very hard

he often played tricks on bigger engines such as Gordon and Henry

however, deep down Thomas wanted to see more of the island

he got dragged behind Gordon's express

Left Henry's local train behind and got pushed down a hill by Edward's troublesome trucks

but Thomas still wanted to prove himself, he would get his chance one day

when the railway's 5th engine named James crashed into a field

Thomas rushed to the rescue

Sir Topham Hatt, proud of Thomas decided Thomas deserved the chance to pull small trains whenever he wasn't busy shunting

Thomas often met a small green saddle tank engine named Percy and a brown tram engine named Toby at Knapford Junction

Over the years, Thomas' steaming problems got worse

Sir Topham Hatt, worried for Thomas decided to buy a tank engine from the western region to look after the yard

Thomas began having nightmares of being replaced and tried to work twice as hard

Sir Topham Hatt asked Thomas if he wanted to help Percy and Toby build the new harbour for the Ffarqhaur branchline while Duck looked after the yard

Thomas sadly agreed to it

While Percy and Toby looked after the harbour extenstion, Thomas had to pull Annie and Clarabel

but Thomas made many mistakes, such as leaving his guard behind, getting fish stuck in his water tanks, having to be rescued by Terence in a snow drift and struggling against a bus named Bertie

Once the extension was finished, Thomas went back to doing odd jobs

He wondered if he would ever get the chance to run his own line one day

But that my dear friends is another story.

I've never been a fan of Diesel in the TV Series, he's inconsistent, overused and I never understood why fans only think HE can be redeemed while D261, D199 and Old Stuck shouldn't be redeemed.

The books knew what they wanted out of Diesel, he served his purpose and left

If only Diesel had never appeared again after Season 2.

Today marks 81 years since the Three Railway Engines was published

What is your favorite part of the railway series?

Let me know what you think and explain your reasonings