No.1 Scholar in Theocratic Studies

In the last review, I mentioned that I'd picked up a Cranky's Dockside Delivery Set. Unfortunately my copy of the set came with a defective cargo car, and so I've opted to delay that review until I can get a functioning one, as otherwise the review would only be swearing. In the meantime, here's Motorized Percy! He was on Amazon and I was curious, so I picked one up.

The Easy Connect Motorized engines have been been facing a bit of controversy, primarily because of 1) Sweeping Systemic Changes, and 2) Quality Control. The systemic changes are definitely hard to swallow for longtime Motorized system fans, since the Plarail-style hooks and loops are now replaced by Wooden Railway-style magnets, and it's definitely a change I've been mixed on myself...

After having thought about it a lot, I think it's a change for the better. The Motorized toylines outside of Japan hasn't been able to recover from the damage Trackmaster Revolution did to the core system, so I think trying to go in a new direction is a good thing. The push-button mechanism is an amazing idea (and let's face it, free-wheeling is never coming back anyway), and while the magnets are definitely going to take some getting used to, I think they were the right call. Obviously they need to retain compatibility with the diecasts, but they also allow for direct cross-play with non-Thomas toy train brands. I plan to say more on this matter in a review of the diecast 2026 Thomas, but to say it simply, I believe this implementation cross-play with other toy train brands is paramount to Thomas staying an evergreen brand.

Anyway, regarding Motorized Percy himself... he's great! Out of the initial wave of five engines that've gone up on Amazon so far, he's definitely the most appealing. He takes great advantage of the visual cleanliness the push-button system allows, and he managed to retain the gold plastic piece forming his dome and whistle! They didn't even do that for the diecast Percy! ...which really bothers me...

But what doesn't bother me, somehow, is his face! I swear to god half the time I see people post about a 2026 Percy it's always captioned with 'Don't Even Trip, Dawg', and like... I dunno, I think he's fine! He definitely looks stupid and puntable, but like... he's my chud son. I don't really know how else to put it. He's just a little birthday boy!

Just like last year's Motorized Classic Percy, he comes with a Mail Car! It's incredibly similar in sculpt, and it retains the weird bronze wheels that I have to assume are derived from the reference sheets, because I've no idea why they'd be so insistent on this detail otherwise. Unlike the Classics Mail Car, it's got logos printed on *both sides* of the van, as well as an opening door gimmick that lets kids see the letters inside! There's no paint applications inside, and the door is made up of half the van rather than being the actual door part of the van, but I respect them for adding in a play feature like this to a Motorized single. Maybe this is just an instance of the bar being too low, but considering last year's two-car motorized trains either came with A Tender with Coal or A Cargo Car with Nothing, this is definitely a step up.

I will admit, the main reason I picked up Percy from Amazon is because I wanted a Mail Car for this new system. It's the only Mail Car in the Easy Connect lineup right now, so unless they make one specifically for the metal engines, this is it! Unfortunately the scaling between Easy Connect's motorized and metal engines isn't really that great, and the motorized rolling stock looks huge and awkward behind the metal engines. I'm sure this will be perfectly fine for some kids, but personally speaking this would have driven me *crazy* back when I was in the target age demo.

Stretching back to the beginning of the post, the Quality Control issues have been a gigantic can of worms for the 2026 motorized engines so far, to the point where half the people you see posting about them are showing off them sucking really badly at their intended purposes. It seems like the motorized engines may not be consistently receiving enough gear lubricant at the factory, since most people who open up their engines and add some report their problems vanish quickly. I'm happy to report that my Percy doesn't have any issues running, and is capable pulling four Wooden Railway trucks pretty comfortably. It's important to keep in mind that since all these new motorized engines are powered by a single AAA battery, they're gonna run out of juice a lot faster than their dual AAA or single AA equivalents, so be prepared for frequent battery swaps if you or your kid is a fan of extra-long running sessions.

Overall, I'd say Easy Connect Motorized Percy is alright. The new motorized engine system is definitely flawed, and I don't think these should have gone to market in the state they did, but my experiences so far have convinced me that these engines do a pretty good job when the QC is under normal conditions. I wouldn't begrudge anyone for skipping these, (especially considering how awful the tender engines are) but if you're willing to gamble, then I'd say Percy is the one to go with.

Link to the gay porn library of Alexandria.

The answer is: the uterus isn't what causes your period, it is effected by your period. What causes your period and what causes trans women's periods is the same thing: the endocrine system.

HRT changes the sex of your endocrine system. Feminizing HRT makes it a female endocrine system, giving us a 28-day hormone cycle just like cis women. At the end of that cycle, the hypothalamus floods the body with prostaglandins. Those are what cause all but one of the period symptoms, because they make muscles inflame and contract. They are what make the uterus shed its lining, they are what cause intestinal cramps, they are what cause body aches, they are what cause headaches and migraines. The only period symptom not causes by the release of prostaglandins throughout the body is depression, and that is caused by your endocrine system simply not processing as much estrogen and from simply feeling like shit.

So, the only symptoms trans women don't get every 28 days is menstrual cramps, because yes we do not menstruate since we don't have uteruses. But migraines, depression, body aches, intestinal cramps, and the infamous "period shits" don't exactly add up to us having any better of a time. Except we have to pretend that we're fine and nothing is different because no one believes that we get periods, not even cis women.

[makes post about how people are transphobic and try to erase trans characters or ignore transphobic writing]