Literally the same picture...

Astonishingly, S4 tones it down, or maybe the yellower lighting gives it a more subdued look

But the CGI series, in one of the few changes it made I’m on board with, has it much less garish... though her eyelashes remain A Bit Much

But she’s one of the cases where I absolutely, unwaveringly, overwhelmingly prefer how she’s shown in the Books over any versions in the TVS. She isn’t overtly feminine or dolled up, but we’re told her name and pronouns and bam! Female Character! That’s all you need!!

With S3 as a whole, the writing has taken a bit of a slide backwards.... and in some episodes, a pretty jarring drop in quality! This is partly from S1 and S2 being so impeccable, the time gap, using magazine stories and the lack of Ringo to punch the delivery up somewhat u_u;

I can be very critical of it, out of the Golden Age that is 1-5, I sometimes wanna put 3 at the bottom, if the Standard Gauge s4 eps weren't as weak as they were it would be an easier call :P

So, Trust Thomas? A story that isn't one of Wilbert's book adaptations? In the season where it becomes very apparent they've smoothed Thomas himself down to be more of a Role Model™ at the cost of his actual characterisation?

I love Trust Thomas!! 🧡

...Though I think I could improve it with a couple of little dialogue tweaks ;3c

The opening sets the mood nicely - Thomas is cheerful on a beautiful day, greeting cows and playfully asking if Bertie wants another race.

There's a bit in the next convo they have that's Very On Brand, the way Thomas, maybe without meaning to sound too smug about it, comments that Bertie wouldn't have potholes to deal with if he was on Reliable Rails ✨ But Bertie throws that comment back, angry at The Railway for not delivering tar to fix the pothole-filled roads.

Meanwhile, James is grumpily shoving Trucks around, having to cover Percy's normal duties. Gordon, who is in the shunting yard part of the harbour for some reason, suggests James pull a sickie to get out of this unpleasant work, to which James readily agrees.

Here's where I'd make my biggest change, so I've altered the dialogue:

Thomas: Cheer up, stick-in-the-muds! It's a beautiful day! Gordon: [grumbling] Not for James. He's sick. James: Yes he is-- I mean, I am. [fake coughing] I don't feel well at all! Thomas: [Eyeing James over] Hmph, really? I suppose I'll help out, if you're ill. Luckily I'm already headed for the Quarry.

...in case y'ain't memorised what actually happens, Thomas is relentlessly positive in the scene and buys the lies hook, line and sinker. While Gordon suggesting the Sick Ploy is in character [ain't it based on him doing the same with Sir Handel in that book? lol] and James going along with it to get out of a Goods Train checks out, I feel Thomas shoulda had his broad suspicious streak at least alluded to, with some self-important huffing. He's still freely offering to lend a hand wheel, cause he's nice, but he'll fuss about it cause That's Thomas!

The next scene works real good without any changes, the Trucks arbitarily decide to get revenge on a different engine to the one who wronged them, poor Thomas gets in an accident and laments how the day has taken a turn for the worse, Duck takes the Trucks and Edward helps Thomas out. Chef's Kiss, splendid content! 👌😽💙

Thomas relays the tar news to Edward while riding back, and James and Gordon sort-of Apologise without fully admitting how much it was their fault. Looove how Gordon tries to gloss over it as soon as possible, and how they slink away after Bertie arrives.

Bertie's line of graditude is a little sugary for my liking, but I can give him leeway as he's an upbeat sorta Bus! Thomas remarks on what a day full of surprises it was, though again I'd maybe have him snark or dryly comment on the good day turning bad that became a bad day turning out good enough in the end, lol. It's certainly a big mood!

Something about Model Stepney always bothers me...and it’s this. What in the hell were they thinking with Stepney’s micro eyes and whacking great conk?? He’s standard gauge, they can’t have been that tight on space!

I can see they were trying for the same nose shape, but they let it consume his whole face! He has nice big round eyes but the model ends up with them looking proper piggy! What happened?!

The lovely lad himself! 💙🚂✨

Always gonna take the chance to Admire this Hodges pic of him <3

As for my thoughts...

...my thoughts haven't really deviated from last month! He's just such a swell, lovable guy!! Though I will say some'a my Takes have actually Intensified since last time so I'll jump in the deep end here and talk about what is probably the hottest and most controversial.

I don't see Edward as an Old Dude!

If anything, I do, in fact, see him as one of the Younger (adult) ones!

i.e. my gijinka of Thomas is hard to definitively age, but I was aiming for early 20's. Like, young enough that I still would look at him irl and be all "Son Boy" but old enough to plausibly have the jobs he would have as a human railway worker type of guy.

I still wanna draw how I'd see Edward ^^; but the notion of him being like, 16 years or so older than Thomas feels perfect somehow. So his design would reflect that assuming I could translate the ideas to lines well enough psshshh

I know Edward is based on an old 19th Century Design. But I'm sitting here in 2021 and if Thomas is an E2 then he's 106. Literal ages aren't a factor in this! Steam Engines are sadly a relic of the past, every single character is old and out of date irl.

"But CatCat," says someone who isn't you, Jobey, "The Railway series was first written in like the 40's and the relative ages made more sense back then, also the earliest stories were Set before they were written!"

Still not really holding water! The ages have consistently been tied to how they behave, how they feel. Sometimes they age across many books but for the most part they seem to be in a temporal stasis when Gordon will always Act older than Thomas in spite of being younger as the Proto-A1 compared to that mini E2. Percy is diagnosed with Baby but is older than all the main cast sans Edward himself! Age Shmage, the numbers these Locomotives care about are what's painted on their sides!

I can understand why some people want to lean into him as being the older, wiser, "ahh I've had a good time of it overall" mentor dude with silver hair and a big comfy armchair by the fireplace, from which he reads thick tomes and drinks tea with a saucer held beneath. And that's great! Everyone is free to have their own take and this is a good archetype that deserves some Love~ 💖

Contrarywise, I see certain people get ridiculously precious about it. "urgh whenever I see Edward looking in his 20's I die inside" type of comments only fill my emergency Spite Gauge, which can give me quite the burst of energy when my preferred interest fuel runs out!

But anyway, I've made up my mind on how I see Edward, and a lot of that is thanks to based Season 1 and how very Boyish he is in the early character building eps.

This is the face of a young man with a quiet impish steak!!

But also, crucially, Edward can still be that mentor figure while not being a wizened Gandalf looking pocket watch in waistcoat wearing old geezer! He can still have several Sons when he's not even 20 years older than any of them!

He has both a Dad and Mentor's Energy, but not an Old Man's. The latter goes to, again Gordon and also Toby (when he's not actively stirring shit at Ffarquhar anyway lol).

What Edward says in canon, one single time, is that he's "Too old to pull a Royal Train". This isn't an indication that he's literally old, but that his make isn't sufficiently flashy and powerful for a visit that's given so much importance.

The other thing that comes up is like "People tell me I'm old fashioned, but I don't care!" ...which is self explanatory! He's told he's old fashioned, not old old! That he's told such because it's not something he himself really thinks about. And that he doesn't put any of his worth to this!

Finally, I guess I gotta debunk things like his creaking in stories like Cows and Old Iron, and Exploit. His basis is what's old about him, not his self. He's also a tremendously hard worker, but humans and engines alike do get worn out through a lot of exertion. He's lucky that whole body parts could be switched out as soon as funds and time are cleared! Ain't these stories set after WW2? So he'd have been On the entire time! Even the hottest new thing woulda been worn out halfway into All That! Exploit had him pull a train that was jam packed when he was originally built for speed over power, and the return journey stacks every element against him short of dropping a tornado on top, any of the engines woulda broke something in those conditions. The point of Exploit isn't that he was weak enough to break, but that he's strong enough to push through it.

...I think that's all the points I wanted to make...

THE TL;DR IS: He can still do the old person-y stuff! Still using a physical diary and reading yellow paged books and tinkering with old watches, listening to Bach and Mozart. He is old fashioned, he just don't let it stop him, baybee! He's a Dad and a wise, trusted, expericened mentor. And also a kindred spirit with Thomas who absolutely feels like a youthful cheeky lad.

And here, after I wrote all that out I tried to draw him again, and I finally got it close to my intentions! 😼✨

a) Another little but important step in Thomas’ development

and b) Very illuminating on The People of Sodor, who are justly pissed when the Railway mismanagement causes the train to be left behind, but when the Engine himself reappears and looks miserable their hearts collectively melt and they’re all “You’re doing amazing sweetie” to Thomas 💕💙💗

Apologies for the delay, I had both lots occuring in the week and many, many thoughts, so that actually stringing them into a readable form was a thing of it's own! I've got another Thomas ask from Jobey and thus another essay planned to appear after this, but here we can go in the nice orderly template ;3

First impression

Ah yes, it’s that Train Character popular with Children. I’ve heard of him :)

Impression now

Darling Baby Boy! Big Son Energy Little Engine! My charming, beloved rude sweetie~ 💙💙💙

He’s such a wonderful and enigmatic blend of personality traits wrapped up in a shiny blue metal box! He’s so faceted and nuanced that even characters within the universe misread him or don’t see his depths.

His personality is so delicately balanced, it’s all too easy for inferior writing to tip the scales way off, and the shoddy reconstruction doesn’t have things in the right place and some notions have rolled under the sofa and get missed entirely, and That’s Not Thomas! But sadly, it’s the false doppelganger who is in the HiT and most (if not all) of the Mattel era.....

But Peak, Core Thombo? [chef finger kiss] 👌😸

He has 0% Filter and 100% Honesty. And maybe 5% Ego Cushioning because wow, that guy does not take slights in good grace! He feels things hard and fast and his mood changes faster than the signals. Thomas is temperamental!

Truly, he’s one of the very best Jerk With A Heart Of Gold type characters. Because yeah, he certainly has moments of being a Blue Meanie... But also that sincerity and urge to do the right thing, and as harsh as he can be I think he generally lacks malice, but his priorities are a bit askew from human / a lot of the other Engine’s standards. Like, his hilariously callous moments are said when he’s already irritated and he takes certain aspects of his life extremely seriously, like running his train on time. He seems inclined to Doubt(ing Thomas) any type of excuse even when it's totally valid.

But there is a fairly obvious Sweet side that’s on show sometimes. He always tries his hardest, even when he’s not enjoying it, and he tends to learn his lessons quickly. Whenever he sticks up for one of the others he does so in an aggressive way but there’s no doubt it’s from the right place. 💖

Favourite moment

This is a very difficult question lmao, there’s a lot!

I feel like re-asserting my fondness for Thomas and the Trucks and that it’s so very underrated! It does the laying down of loads of foundations that are later built on, and giving us an insight into Thomas’ experience (and lack of!) in general and regarding what he was used to. That he's tired from implied years on end of him doing the same tedious Coach Fetching, and that just moving goods to the nearby station is such a big step on the route to Thomas the Branch Line Manager lol

Idea for a story

Not to sound too much like the TV producers lol, but Thomas is pretty adaptable to a lot of potential plots! (I say this cause Awdry seemed more intent on keeping him moored to the Ffarquhar line once that was established, for better and for worse)

In any case, it could be interesting if, due to his fame in the books and TV series, some inept crooks tried to steal him [in their defence it does seem that the engines are a bit comically helpless if they don’t have crew and/or a fire burning....]. Thomas gets Very Cross and makes their lives hell. This is more a plotless short film than an actual fic idea, but it amuses me anyway :P

Unpopular opinion

When Thomas said he wanted to See The World™, he was speaking in hyperbole. For him, the next station down the track is new and thrilling!! He wanted to see further than the one Big Station he wasn’t allowed to leave! Not go on a half baked stereotype tour as the ultimate fulfilment of this comment made by a frustrated young lad.

Also that my favourite Voice for him, by a long shot, is Ringo. Whenever it’s not Ringo it should at least sound like a Liverpudlian Young Adult, not a widdle kid and not too posh and weird sounding. He may’ve been ‘born’ in Brighton but he’s lived on Sodor for decades on end, he wouldn’t keep any Southern Accent if he ever had time to develop one in the first place! The voice he was supposed to have in Magic Railroad was great and the Focus Groups ruined it!!

Favourite relationship

Still him and Edward, and probably never shifting from that! B3

Honourable mention goes to Gordon though, for reasons I went into on his ask. They’re Rivals and also Allies who both won’t admit they have sooo much in common~

Favourite headcanon

Jobey’s lore that he wasn’t actually Steamed for the first time until he was already on Sodor is so embraced by me that I keep having to stop to remind myself that it’s not technically canon lmao (It could be in RWS and the Model era...! CGI does shoot it down though, another reason I Do Not Vibe with it :T)