thomas and friends mini series

dont get me wrong, i like the SDCC sets immensely. it was just getting them that was annoying. would have preferred them even being a store exlusive rather than event exclusive.

one thing i would like is something more gender neutral and small-kid friendly crossovers. with the exception of spongebob, all the crossovers have been with shows that revolve around fighting, with good guys and bad guys. thats one thing i like about thomas is the lack of violence, especially for the toddler/pre-schooler crowd. im not a prude, but i dont see the need for young kids to focus on that.
thats why disney would be good, or characters from other companies that wouldnt demand such high license fees. a series on world flags and capital cities would be awesome. not sure if this is even possible, but scented ones, or color changing. theres still loads they can do.

Great ideas for new trains. Totally agree with you on more kid friendly/less violent themed. Love the ideas you have for other trains. Considering how many themes hot wheels have, there are like a million ideas still available. This may seem crazy but I even like the idea of regional exclusive trains. The tootsies are fun but if there were trains only avail in the UK, Japan, Australia ETC that would be cool. It's a good excuse to connect with fellow collectors for help tracking them down without paying brutal EBay prices.

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I like the sdcc sets. They are really nice quality products and I'm happy to have them. It's just that they're still not something I want to be spending that kind of money on. Or, at least, continue to spend that kind of money on.

At least the money spent on them feels like I'm getting something interesting and unique, while buying something like the batcave playset just to get the clayface bill is much less satisfying for me.

I'm excited for the TMNT trains. Can't deny it. Just proves to your point, Mike, that they're mostly catering to the parents and adult collectors here. Might morphin Power rangers, 80s/90s turtles, every DC comic character ever. They know what they're doing.

Totally agree with you about the playset exclusives. Specifically Clayface. Probably the most boring MINI they've made yet and made no sense as a villain in a playset. There are so many better characters they could have had. Also I'm really not super excited that they've made the same playset with the Steelworks theme now just to get another 'exclusive' MINI. Just think about that playset they announced at Toy Fair (the multi platform one) that's a lot of money to pay, if you just want the MINI. Looks fun but really only if you have several different Thomas brands of trains.