I'm not going to deny that ERTL was one of Thomas' longest-running merchandise lines, but as someone who played with them in my early childhood, I feel they were just okay. I'm not going to deny that the models had a lot of attention to detail, but they were also terribly proportioned. One such example is that Peter Sam, a narrow gauge engine, is bigger than Oliver, a standard gauge one (this was satirized in Ryan Rocketz's "ERTL Errors" video). Also, the coupling system was terrible; it was an extremely flimsy hook and eye system that easily broke apart, and engines could only pull rolling stock and not other engines. This was somewhat fixed late in its lifespan when the coupling system was re-designed with a U-hook so engines could pull both other engines and rolling stock and it was slightly more durable, but those models were released exclusively in Europe, as by then, the US had replaced ERTL with Take-Along Thomas, which in my opinion, was superior in many ways; while the Take-Alongs were less detailed, they were more durable, better proportioned, and had smart magnets that could connect either way.
I guess for me it’s more the nostalgia and yes it can be considered ok but I still had great memories. Heck I would still love ertl to come back. I remember my disappointment when the line ended before Season 9. I remember really wanting an ertl Mighty Mac.
My dad's friend had the genius idea of using a coin on the engine couplers to haul two engines together. That was what I did whenever I wanted to have an engine pull another. But yeah I had a few train cars with broken couplers because of how flimsy they could be sometimes. My Clarabel's coupler broke so I couldn't have the traditional trio of Thomas, Annie, and Clarabel as a single train for a long time.
These were my definitive Thomas toys from '97-'01. Even my dad respected them for their detailed sculpting and likeness to the show. But in addition to your points, the paint chipped off pretty easily. I didn't even bother with the tracks as a kid, even though I had some. I just rolled them on the floor or table.
There’s a lot more to go into the system of Ertl. From a plain boring grey track, they painted them with detail which looks really nice. New exciting, looking sets were coming out towards its end. The new coupling system allows the engines to go up and down slopes.
I think another big issue with ERTL is some of the faces being die-cast (Diesel,Terence,Boco etc.) a majority of the time when looking for ERTL’s on the second hand market, they always have the face scratched up and or missing paint which sucks.
Before I went threw the stage of I'm told old to be playing with toys while I was in middle school. I use to have all the etl Thomas and friends toys.from the first batch till shortly after TMR movie came out. I loved them to death and I regret ever selling them. I should had keep them to give them to my future kids but I was just a per teen, what did I know lol. I wish it never did end
As one of the only people that uses ERTL’s track in videos, I can say it’s not as hard as you think to put together. Sure it’s wider than stretched putin & it’s practically a fucking road, but connecting it is pretty straight forward. It’s basically like Trackmaster track, except you have to angle the piece you want to connect, rather than just pushing one into another from the top
Thank you for making this, we need more videos out there discussing ERTL T&F, also congrats on obtaining an ERTL Arthur, you have as much luck as Indiana Jones obtaining the golden idol to get one of those haha
I absolutely the Ertl line of Thomas and friends products, they are really great quality and they even produced the obscure engines from the railway series that never made it into the TV show
Great video! Although I don’t have many problems with Ertl, a rather bold claim I think I’ll make is that if the Ertl line was released now, everyone would hate it.
I agree, it couldn't exist today, it just doesnt work with modern children who need bright flashy lights and sounds and screens to entertain themselves.
Thomas fans: what happened to ertle mr Mattel? Mattel: we replaced it with take along I mean take and play I mean adventures I mean trackmaster push along
I mean I’m shocked the wood stuff is worth more, it has maybe half the detail on the models if that. No offense but the wood ones just simply don’t look as accurate or good to me, but I grew up with the ertl diecast ones so I may be slightly biased
Honestly, I Think These Where More Aimed To Older Fans Of Thomas Just Because Of The Look. Back Then All Of The Other Stuff Was Aimed To Ages 1-6 Or Something Like That…
Perhaps but the issue with that is, one at that time there wasn't a large pool of older thomas fans like there are today to appeal to , and two children still are the target beacuse there will most almost always be more children looking for toy trains then say people over the target demographic. Buissness wise it just doesn't make sense. And back then of course Ertl was the only major thomas toy line of notable scale.
Problem was there wheels wouldn’t turn well on the track when I was a kid so I still got my ertl sever since just no track because the wheels wouldn’t turn well on them🇬🇧
The joys of living in the UK is the track is everywhere I have tons of track and tunnels. Ertl UK is based in a place called Exeter that's about half an hour away from me. Shame they don't make it anymore tho
Maybe? Although I'm not sure I would be the best person to beacuse although I have a decent little trackmaster collection, I'm far from a expert on it.
How so? The question asked was "What went wrong with ertl" (Why does it have the issues that it does)? And I layed that out with some positives to see both sides.
