
Why are people modding Thomas the Tank Engine into video games? - bryanrasmussen
https://theface.com/culture/why-are-people-modding-thomas-the-tank-engine-into-video-games
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Rotdhizon
It's nothing more than an on going meme. However the Thomas the Tank Engine
meme has survived and been thriving for many years now, much longer than most
others of the same type do. Look back at the days of left for dead, people
modded all types of characters like the telletubbies and even Hank from King
of the Hill into the game. Thomas has a lot of lore and history surrounding
it. Notably the "It was time for him to leave, for Thomas had now seen
everything" meme. There really isn't a one sentence explanation for it, it's
just a part of the meme culture surrounding these types of shows that is very
tedious to explain. It's something you grow into, it would be very difficult
to understand this if you had no idea or understanding of why these cultures
exist.

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kibibu
Barney being modded into Doom was the earliest joke mod I remember.

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protomyth
That was an extremely satisfying mod for someone who got dragged into subbing
at a early childhood center when they ran out of staff. That damn purple thing
singing is still burned into my memory.

~~~
ilikepi
I don't remember that particular mod. I do remember playing Barneysplat![1] on
one of the local BBS's I frequented though. It was pretty satisfying for a
text-only experience.

[1]:
[https://www.mobygames.com/game/barneysplat](https://www.mobygames.com/game/barneysplat)

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vertline3
I think partially because the modders don't have to animate walk cycles and
limbs moving, the train is mostly static. Also it's the contrast between
horror and Thomas's squeaky clean branding.

~~~
dTal
There's an undercurrent of existential horror entirely intrinsic to Thomas the
Tank engine which _already_ contrasts with the superficially happy and
brightly-colored children's show. Putting Thomas in incongruous or unsettling
situations throws this into sharp relief. Just what _is_ Thomas?

tl;dr trains with faces are creepy

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sdrothrock
[https://youtu.be/iO6qIM2WO6k?t=185](https://youtu.be/iO6qIM2WO6k?t=185)

[https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/The_Sad_Story_of_Henry](https://ttte.fandom.com/wiki/The_Sad_Story_of_Henry)

This particular episode horrifies me; I feel like kids will grow up and as
adults, look back on this and wonder how they didn't realize how dark it was,
much like I do with some parts of things like The Brave Little Toaster.

~~~
jacobush
Wow... that’s really somber

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blattimwind
The clue is at the end

"But I think he deserved his punishment. Don't you?"

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jacobush
I don’t, no. Solitary confinement for life is cruel and unusual punishment.
Plus some public ridicule, too.

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benj111
Touched on in the article, but some of the storylines are quite disturbing.

In Henry, Henry doesn't want to spoil his paint in the rain, so hides in a
tunnel. The Fat Controller then bricks him up in the tunnel.

The Fat Controller. The big tender engines "refuse to shunt like common tank
engines"[1]. So the Fat Controller locks them up whilst the tank engines break
the strike.

Theres a strange plot point, maybe in The Diesel, where Daisy, one of the very
few 'female' trains, 'feels something between her axels', which turns out to
be an oil leak, might be reading too much into that though...

[1] Yes that's a direct quote from a Thomas the Tank Engine book, from memory,
on HN. Am I 'leet' yet?

~~~
kerrsclyde
In Henry's Sneeze in one of the early books there was a line about soot
covered boys running away as black as n __ __*s [1].

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_the_Green_Engine#Racism_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_the_Green_Engine#Racism_allegation)

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byron_fast
If you've been a parent, half in a daze, overtired, seeing insipid Thomas on
TV and hoping - or fearing - it will amuse a toddler while you doze, you'll
understand. Getting to fight him in a familiar game is a bossfight of a
different sort.

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devteambravo
People are doing this because they are excited beyond themselves about the
next re-skin of Call of Duty 19 or whatever. It's like a virtual graffiti made
by bored hackers.

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theturtletalks
The Skyrim one is amazing:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNaTZV8qS1I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNaTZV8qS1I)

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swsieber
And let's not forget that Thomas the Train appeared in a marvel movie (Ant
Man):
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cq8EXbY3xXk](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cq8EXbY3xXk)

There's something to be said for the juxtapositioning of Thomas' face in
darker settings.

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m4rtink
It's not just games - the Oigawa Railway company in Japan does this in real
life:

[http://oigawa-railway.co.jp/en/thomas.html](http://oigawa-
railway.co.jp/en/thomas.html)

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kkarakk
because of overwhelming prevalence of 2chan and nico nico douga(a lot of which
is replicated on US/korean/russian social networks either directly or via
homage), the Japanese are very clued into the popularity of media in digital
culture.

~~~
rusk
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperreality](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperreality)

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Theodores
The real life Thomas the Tank Engine is keeping the model railway business
alive in the UK. The hobby of model railways is only for 70+ year old retired
men with money, it isn't of great appeal to anyone younger. Part of the
problem is that a model railway now has to be 'photorealistic' and period
accurate. It isn't just 'playing trains', it is historical recreation in
miniature. A normal loco is going to cost well upwards of £100 and not be
affordable to someone on pocket money, particularly if they want a rake of
coaches too.

Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends make it possible to have a train set
that doesn't have to be finely modelled. The track doesn't require any scenery
and the railway actually can be for 'playing trains'. Costs don't have to be
high and Thomas, on a basic oval with a couple of carriages can be £50
affordable and robust.

Model trains are not a global franchise except for when it comes to Thomas the
Tank Engine. Nobody outside the UK wants a 'Flying Scotsman' train set as it
is a British train that never made it onto the wider European network or
further afield. Equally, nobody in the UK wants a Union Pacific 4014 'Big Boy'
even if people in the US are going crazy for that recently refurbished
'prototype' right now.

Thomas is therefore not stuck to just the UK. Cheap plastic Thomas the Tank
Engine models can be sold all around the world. He isn't even particularly
gender stereotyped, a parent can buy Thomas the Tank Engine train set for a
daughter, although this is unlikely. Although easy to dismiss, Thomas the Tank
Engine is a vital gateway drug for keeping model railways as an option in toy
shops and their online counterparts. Without him model trains would have gone
the way of so many other historical toys.

What the world really needs are some scale model accessories borrowed from
video game franchises for the train set.

~~~
phillc73
> Nobody outside the UK wants a 'Flying Scotsman' train set as it is a British
> train that never made it onto the wider European network or further afield.

Your point is broadly correct, but I think you chose the wrong example. The
Flying Scotsman extensively toured the US, Canada and Australia.[1]

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNER_Class_A3_4472_Flying_Scot...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNER_Class_A3_4472_Flying_Scotsman)

~~~
Theodores
Thanks for that. Seems that The Flying Scotsman locomotive was built for a
life of promotional touring.

Didn't know the Flying Scotsman went on a post-retirement tour and I find it
typical that the PM of the day thought this relic could be good for promoting
British exports. Who would have wanted some outmoded, expensive lump of iron?

This was a time when Concorde was being built, you would have thought UK Plc
would have had better goodies than The Flying Scotsman to send off to America.

Different things happen when objects get to be in museum world. If anything
there is to learn from the story is the importance of getting stuff into
'museum world', then there are the collaborations, tours and opportunities to
shift the merchandise.

I wonder how well the marketing and tour would have gone had 4477 'Gay
Crusader' been the one to be spared of its fate on Barry Island (where all
trains went to die).

What is also interesting is that the service was called 'The Flying Scotsman'.
Yet most people would be quite insistent that it is the locomotive, not the
service that the name refers to. I wonder why this is not something done a bit
more extensively today. There is no single loco that is synonymous with the
channel tunnel service. They could have one 'poster child' loco and make it
sound special, to market channel tunnel trips a bit more 'romantically' than
how it is done currently with faceless no-name locos.

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jayd16
I'm partial to Macho Mod Randy Savage, myself.

~~~
aaronbrethorst
I came here to say the same.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omT0PaXYpIE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omT0PaXYpIE)

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userbinator
Very appropriate domain name to answer the question.

Thomas' face, particularly his expression, is what makes these mods amusing.

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tomcam
I suspect some of these mods are used to create fan versions of Thomas videos.
My son watches them on YouTube and while I suppose they aren’t considered
commercial usage, they can generate millions of views, which could be
resulting in substantial YT partner income.

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Waterluvian
Related. It's the similar juxtaposition you see with Thomas in horror. But
it's the other way around.

[https://youtu.be/IjfwNwyhzXQ](https://youtu.be/IjfwNwyhzXQ)

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whamlastxmas
Tldr: it's funny and started with a random happenstance

~~~
tomxor
Yeah but the third video is simultaneously hilarious and genuinely terrifying
in a kind of weird way - it definitely captures the fear of unstoppable
inevitability.

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xvector
I can't tell if this article is a joke or not

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swarnie_
Hey look, Normies found are memes and are analyzing them.

