The end of Thomas and friends from Plarail?

Ucwepn · 2015-05-07T23:27:14+00:00

I have been doing some detective work after hearing rumors that Trackmaster is going global next year (2016), will this be the end of the TOMY/Plarail Thomas...

DalaGStanator

plarnold wrote
May I ask which 'official' channel this post was based on?

As far as I can see, no 'official' channels have stated explicitly the discontinuation of the series.

I would really like to know if this is true.

-plarnold

He shouldn't have simply written something like that without providing a source. It could cause a lot of rage and disappointment.

Super

I don't think there has ever been an official announcement nor, if true, do I ever see one coming business wise. Unless it was Plarails own idea of canceling a product line of their own making a statement that they have lost their rights would not be to their advantage. IMO. Time will tell

Thomasengineandjames67

Super wrote
I don't think there has ever been an official announcement nor, if true, do I ever see one coming business wise. Unless it was Plarails own idea of canceling a product line of their own making a statement that they have lost their rights would not be to their advantage. IMO. Time will tell

Super is correct plarail won't be discontinued

sunhuntin

if you read the thread, we werent discussing plarail as a whole being cancelled, but the thomas and friends side of things. there was a large gap between new releases, and when they did come they were very slow, leading to fears that tomy/plarail had lost the license.

Ucwepn

I still stand by this, we got 1 engine this time and it was Ryan, nothing new has been announced 🙁 No-one is sadder than me as my whole channel was based on Plarail and Trackmaster Thomas train reviews. If I have nothing to review there can be no channel.

sunhuntin

there were those two bits released for pre-sale recently, that pop-up station thing and i forget what the other was, lol. but they werent engines.

Super

Thomasengineandjames67 wrote
Super is correct plarail won't be discontinued

You mis-read the meaning of that post. No where did it mean that "plarail won't be discontinued" what was implied was that if Plarail did lose their rights that business wise it would not be them to make an announcement unless it was them who chose to end the rights. Just doesn't make business sense. Most likely the only company that would have a press release if this is true would be Fisher Price announcing their exclusive rights releases in Asia. Personally I lean towards and feel more likely what Ucwepn believes. Wish I was wrong but there has to be something to the rumblings. I also don't really think there will be any official announcement from any company as It doesn't look beneficial to any of the parties. We will probably just see a slow transitioning like we have been until there are no Thomas Plarail left and all Fisher Price in Asia.

Wonder how the introduction of the Fisher Price Minis and the Plarail Capsule line will pan out?

ActionChugger

Ucwepn wrote
I still stand by this, we got 1 engine this time and it was Ryan, nothing new has been announced 🙁 No-one is sadder than me as my whole channel was based on Plarail and Trackmaster Thomas train reviews. If I have nothing to review there can be no channel.

You could always start a Daiso series <runs and hide> :cool:

Miksolo

sunhuntin wrote
there were those two bits released for pre-sale recently, that pop-up station thing and i forget what the other was, lol. but they werent engines.

One of them was sort of an engine. It was that sound-controlled Thomas set.
We're also getting a new set with a redesigned Bertie according to a toy fair in Japan that Suzukawa made a video at.

sunhuntin

thats right, thanks for refreshing my memory, miksolo.

Thomasengineandjames67

Super wrote
You mis-read the meaning of that post. No where did it mean that "plarail won't be discontinued" what was implied was that if Plarail did lose their rights that business wise it would not be them to make an announcement unless it was them who chose to end the rights. Just doesn't make business sense. Most likely the only company that would have a press release if this is true would be Fisher Price announcing their exclusive rights releases in Asia. Personally I lean towards and feel more likely what Ucwepn believes. Wish I was wrong but there has to be something to the rumblings. I also don't really think there will be any official announcement from any company as It doesn't look beneficial to any of the parties. We will probably just see a slow transitioning like we have been until there are no Thomas Plarail left and all Fisher Price in Asia.

Wonder how the introduction of the Fisher Price Minis and the Plarail Capsule line will pan out?

I'm sorry for misreading it, super
Thanks for reminding me:sleepy::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Nigels

Ucwepn wrote
I still stand by this, we got 1 engine this time and it was Ryan, nothing new has been announced 🙁 No-one is sadder than me as my whole channel was based on Plarail and Trackmaster Thomas train reviews. If I have nothing to review there can be no channel.

I'm not so sure this is true, what Tomy seem to be doing lately is re-engineering and re-releasing new versions of the existing engines, for example recently James was re-released I believe. It could be they are upgrading the tooling for the current range before launching new models 🙂

Bertsan531

I will be Sad if Takara TOMY will discontinued their Plarail Thomas line as i've been collecting it since 2005 last June 07 2016 i've bought a Plarail Gator & Marion from Hobby Search Japan, this one is so much better than Fisher Price TMR-2 Gator as this is so much High Quality than Fisher Price, Here in the Philippines i've not seen anymore Plarail Thomas stuff since 2012 sadly the new Trackmaster 2 Range has taken over and now we also have the Thomas Motorized Range and the Thomas Collectible Railway stuff but those are so low quality compared to the ones Takara Tomy produce, If anyone ask we still have Plarail here but not the Thomas ones 🙁

Miksolo

Nigels wrote
I'm not so sure this is true, what Tomy seem to be doing lately is re-engineering and re-releasing new versions of the existing engines, for example recently James was re-released I believe. It could be they are upgrading the tooling for the current range before launching new models 🙂

I feel as though they're sort of trying to copy Mattel by making all of the engines similarly made, but they aren't going all too far with it. They just made all of the drive units the same it seems, and are cutting back a bit on detailing coughRyancough, but not so much that it ruins it like Mattel did with Trackmaster. Just enough to make a good in between cheap production quality models.

Thomasengineandjames67

Miksolo wrote
I feel as though they're sort of trying to copy Mattel by making all of the engines similarly made, but they aren't going all too far with it. They just made all of the drive units the same it seems, and are cutting back a bit on detailing coughRyancough, but not so much that it ruins it like Mattel did with Trackmaster. Just enough to make a good in between cheap production quality models.

Yeah they're trying to copy trackmaster

Bertsan531

Its seems that Takara Tomy will continue to produce the Plarail Thomas & Friends line as it continue to produce new Items, maybe they got their Licences renewed from Mattel?

Trainboy90 Productions

Bertsan531 wrote
Its seems that Takara Tomy will continue to produce the Plarail Thomas & Friends line as it continue to produce new Items, maybe they got their Licences renewed from Mattel?

At least there will be more new sets in the Future like a redesigned Plarail Edward and Henry.

Bertsan531

Trainboy90 Productions wrote
At least there will be more new sets in the Future like a redesigned Plarail Edward and Henry.

We"ll see if they will do a Re-Designed Edward and Henry maybe in the Coming months and maybe The Flying Scotsman 😃

WoodWheel92

I think there is a strong likeliness that they'll do their own Scotsman in a year or so. Two tenders makes for an easy 3-pack. I bet they'll even get the footplate right too!
I'm hoping they surprise us and make Ashima or... no, just Ashima. It'd tie in with the special, she's a prominent character in it, and there is no doubt a big big number of people who'd want her, older fans and younger children alike...

I hope they create a Re-Designed Henry and complete the trio. I figure he'd get the same chassis/wheels/rods as Gordon, and the whole new body/face. Those rods...
What would a redesigned Henry come with anyway? Log car? Singular truck, or van? Speculate with me here, people.

Aresedale productions

I think Henry should come with a truck with little trees in them and poor ucwepn he doesn't have anything to review

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