When it comes to other TTTE AU's i stand by this: - Nothing I say has to have any impact on anyone's work - Nothing I say comes from a place of hate. - While I know it's not my AU, I will critique the fuck out of it. - If its a sodor fallout (or similar) AU, I disregard all of the above and I point and laugh.
I would say that it’s a little much… But Role Swap AUs deserve to be wiped from the face of the earth. It’s just taking someone else’s work and switching the characters around. At least most AUs inspired by Fallout don’t just put someone like Thomas in Edward’s role in Fallout. Role Swap AUs are just trash.
If you don’t enjoy blood and death in Thomas Content, that’s fine by me. But I will not tolerate people basically lazily changing the roles of characters and using other people’s art/work without credit.
4:12 I don’t like this, kills the uniqueness of Oliver’s design as a GWR Auto Tank, what made the Auto Tanks stand out from most tank engines is that they were primarily built for passenger work, their wheels were literally express passenger ones. But in all honesty it’s his AU so if he wants to make his engines look…eh, his choice don’t care.
I dislike the colored faces but I really hated the yellow on James’ Bufferbeam, and the red wheels don’t work because I think it makes James’ paintwork less of a focus. Edit: The Little Western was called such because Oliver & Duck were the first engines to work on it, it had a Railway Series story where the engines joked about it being the “Little Western” but Duck & Oliver liked the name so the Arlesburgh Branch became known as that.
Maybe this is just my opinion, but I don’t think there’s any issue with Thomas being as old as he is. What that being said his take on Thomas isn’t bad by any means. Edit: to that extent, something I find fascinating is that everyone immediately points out Thomases age but they don’t point out how ridiculously old James is considering he was portrayed as the least experience of the big three engines according to his basis, he should be older than them. In fact, he technically should be older than Toby.
It’s almost like it’s about the experience each character has. Thomas barely left the yards, apart from building the nwr. Percy was always a workshop engine. The Toby and James dynamic takes a hit, but aye… that’s how Awdry made it work.
4:18 Quote from the TTTE Wiki "It is nicknamed so because the line is decorated in Great Western Railway colours and is worked by Duck and Oliver." also, I might be wrong on this, but I think Donald and Douglas don't work specifically on the Little Western, they're utility engines, they work wherever needed
I can mostly agree with all your Opinions On his on AU The only thing that bothers me is that the faces on engines are the same with their paint scheme It only truly looks good on boco and bear And also speaking of bear The face Is the down side of it for me It looks so awkward the fact that he used Stanley's face is just Confusing
I think the AU for them is pretty cool. there are some changes are weird like Toby being female because he has a skirt and Bear being changed as well as some of the color choices but besides that it’s a interesting take of Thomas and the others. Oliver, Bill and Ben’s changes are interesting and I like I idea of Bill and Ben being Winged Tanks
I strongly believe it's meant to be a jab as to how some characters (particularly those in the Railway Series) have their faces meshed into their bodies. I've had this impression even before the My Ideal Series ever since Roly the Bachmann Coach
He said _very briefly_ at the beginning of a Q&A video a while ago that he just likes how they look. I don't get it myself. It feels like a misinterpretation of the whole embedded faces thing from the books.
I don’t have a problem with AUs and Headcanons unless it’s a role swap AU of an existing AU. But some things about these feel… off. Notably Oliver and Bear.
I actually like BadManoredProductions's ideal series. I will admit having some of characters being not their classes can be off putting for some but I personally like how BM adds a bit more diversity in the types of engines and not just their genders. I think my favourite is Rosie as that seems RWS-esk to me. What I do have a problem with is not with the AU itself, but those who have a go at BM for certain aspects like changing certain character's basises or making them more of an OC. Oliver, Bear and Murdoch being the prime examples. There's having an opinion and then there's being narrow minded. Overall, I still enjoy his Ideal AU.
4:08. I always figured it was called the Little Western for both reasons: it’s on the west side of the island, _and_ it has Great Western engines working on it. So the name fits in that regard.
My Opinion: I agree with you on Toby (also, side plates are nicknamed skirts, if he’s making Toby female because of it, then shouldn’t Henry be a white elephant that was rebuilt with square wheels, Gordon be a sausage with horse feet and James be a pile of rusty red scrap iron? It literally doesn’t make sense). Duck was a pannier to show that he was mass produced and still managed to get a good personality and a home, he had so many brothers and sisters and he was just one out of the flock. Diesel on the other hand was also mass produced but unlike Duck, he was rude, selfish could never find a place he could call home. Both of them had tough times but Duck managed to handle it better. He changed Bears Basis so he could work with steam heated coaches, remember, most of Sodor’s engines are steam engines, they would most likely have steam heated coaches as well. The Class 22 can have their doors open up like steam engines so he has something in common with the steam engines. While I do agree, The Hymeks looked awesome, that’s just our opinions, he’s allowed to have his own opinions on the class. (I’ve been seeing a lot of people hate on him for having Stanley’s face even when BMP said it was a placeholder)
I kinda hate when people just change stuff for the sake of changing stuff, like one person I watched had the ffarquar branch interchange with the little western. Like, I don't rly care that much but he didn't even have anything else to go with it. It's just kinda annoying.
In the video of Toby BadManored went on to explain how Awdry likely didn't realize the inside joke he could make with sideskirts and female engines until he got around to creating Mavis, which I must say does seem possible. I must admit it's a rather clever joke and likely something Awdry didn't realize until after Toby's creation, however that said I do agree that gendered clothing shouldn't typically be something attributed to locomotives, moreso just the funny parallels between the two. Another thing to note is that kilts (traditional Scottish clothing that is in essence a skirt) exist, and even by todays stadards where it's becoming more commonplace for men to dress more feminine and women more masculine, I don't really feel there was a need to chage Toby's gender for this reason. Unlike Oliver being uniquely a GWR Autotank (and having the coaches hence his basis being changed making no sense imo), Toby being a J70 doesn't add a whole lot to his overall character and he could've easily been turned into a Scottish tram engine, thus making the side skirts more equivalent to a kilt and explaining that without the need to change his gender. In the end it's his take on the characters, but that said given they're publicly uploaded I think we're all still free to fairly critize them too, and for Toby the alterations seem ultimately unnecessary.
You were overall pretty fair in your commentary here, which I appreciate. My only real gripes with his AU are the color scheme he gave Donald and Trevor. Also, James' running board reminds me of the Mad parody they did of Thomas a few years ago. Also, since you mentioned the Skarloey engines at the end, he outlined some engines he wanted for the Skarloey Railway in a Q&A he did last year. He said he wanted an engine based on Alf to represent the Huncoat Colliery, Talybont from the Plynlimon and Hafan Tramway, Chevalier from the Campbelltown and Machrihanish Light Railway, and an engine named Scotchman representing a company called John Sean and Sons Limited. I'm intrigued to hear more later on. Sorry for the ramble.
I can't bring myself to like any of his AU choices, at least from the ones I remember. It's just too different and I don't like that diversity crab. It kills so many characters, like Oliver, Bulgy, Bear, Bill & Ben and I guess to an extent Murdoch because it's not really Murdoch anymore. Bulgy's better off male, that's why I added him there. Same as Toby who I forgot to add. Also, I'm not a fan of some of the liveries.
This is what i call changing stuff just for the sake of changing stuff, If you want a good version of what an au should be look at trampy's movies, sticks to the original source material but does his own thing
6:05 - Do you know a fine place for a sick engine? Some of these customs need to go there. Daisy and Bear and some of the steam team members need to go there.
Making Thomas built in 1951 destroys the history , The 2nd RWS book takes place 1924-25, It’d make more sense to have him as one of the LNER built J72s, Built at least 1923-24
To paraphrase enterprising engines: duck and Oliver got painted into full great western colors. They got great western auto coaches. The other engines laughed and called it the little western. Duck and Oliver loved it, and now no one ever thinks of calling anything else. It was called a little western because duck in Oliver are great western engines, and all the little engines. And that’s why I think it’s good that Oliver is great Western.
Frankly, I don’t mind some of the changes he’s made. His takes on Oliver, Bill and Ben, and Bear are at the very least creative, and what efforts he makes to justify his changes in realism are somewhat respectable. However, I think he’s going too far to justify making the changes in the first place- he thinks that the rest of us are too purist or nostalgia-blinded to accept new versions of these characters. It’s arrogant. BadManoredProductions is the Thomas equivalent to those people who take other people’s characters and claim that they’ve “fixed” them when in reality they’ve warped them to fit what THEY wanted rather than trying to honor the original designers’ intent. What he wants is not what Wilbert wanted.
Saying with the Percy reaction that it is BadManoredProductions AU but then still making this video is on a level on self-contradictory that makes me sad.
Tbh I feel like you could’ve also have added in some bits of his QnA video, since it does give insight into why he make his choices the way he does (at least somewhat but not fully)
I really love Thomas and Percy's designs, the James design is also good, but I also hate the yellow running board. Edward is fine, Henry looks kinda better without the wheel arches and Gordon as a Raven A2 is awesome. Toby as a female is mid, Duck and Oliver also look mid, but I don't care about Oliver not being GW. The rest of these is fine, but Bear looks so bad. The green on Murdoch is also mid. That's my opinion.
Personally, I both love and hate his AU. I love it because it gives me more to think about for my AU, but I also hate it because of some of the things that he says which is straight up wrong information, yet that won’t stop him from treating it as fact. For example: he believes that Thomas’s dipped running board is an illustration error… A, it’s not, at least not intentionally. B, his entire design is an error of itself because Payne drew an entirely different engine to Audrey’s wooden model. There are others, and I could go on about this but I don’t want to be here all day. Now for Oliver, it SPECIFICALLY states in the text that the Little Western was called that BECAUSE of the fact that it was run by GWR engines! I’m serious, read the text of Enterprising Engines. As for my latest and simplest solution: have him be rebuilt at Swindon works and promote his ideal Barry Railway B1 to second-in command on the Little Western. (Also, can someone relay this information to him next time he uploads? I would, but I won’t be getting any attention from him anytime soon.) Also, he intends on replacing Rusty… but still wants his ideal narrow gauge Diesel be built by the same people… yeah, his ideal sodor stopped making sense after I found this one out.
I like how you speak in this video. It kinda seems weird when you talk so seriously. Like I understand u want to be serious and show ur point but it comes out kinda unhinged. But when you talk like you do in this video it’s easier to listen two. I really enjoyed this video.
Yeah, I honestly honestly don’t really mind how anyone Represents of the Thomas characters that’s why I don’t really have a AU of my own though weirdly see Percy being named Ted for some reason
I was about to ask if calling Percy "Ted" was because of the Mad Bomber, but then I remembered that Percy was called Noel in Mad Bomber and it was James who was called Ted.
Wow I didn't think he could get anymore cringe than coloring the faces. I don't mind changing Sodor's AU look at Victor Tanzig, I enjoyed that for the most part. I find changing Toby's gender very cringe, might as well create a feminine OC in their place.
I think People are Too Harsh On His AU, Yeah Some Off the Choices Aint Great, But Its HIS AU. If you dont like it, make your own. But im glad your being civil unlike thethomaslad
For a start I do appreciate not criticizing the colored faces. Though I personally still find them off putting. I think a large reason people have been talking about his versions specifically is all the Awdry criticisms he makes; they come off as excessively negative. As for why it’s called the Little Western. it’s partly because Duck and Oliver are so prideful about their line that the others nicknamed it LW as a joke and it stuck.
BadManoredProductions literally stated that Bear, Annie, and Clarabel's Faces are PLACEHOLDERS. In fact, in the My Ideal Annie & Clarabel videos, he even reitarates this fact regarding Bear's Face.
I feel like a lot of people dont go into this stuff with the right mindset. Badmanored doesn't go into this the same way everyone else usually does where he changes a few things and then tries to work it into the RWS. He looks at the RWS and TVS and interprets how he would do it from scratch. Sure it follows the story to an extent but its redone to how he would have wanted the events to play out. Its his ideal version of the story. How he would have done the whole thing. It's the same thing with Dark DJ's North Western Series. He's said before that he doesnt do stuff to recreate his childhood but rather to give an impression of what he would've liked his childhood to have evolved into. Part of it is that its taken from less of a thomas fans viewpoint and more of a railfans perspective trying to reguide the story into something that he believes would have better than introducing children into real life trains. I'm not trying to discredit what you say here but I really think that a lot of the people who complain about it dont understand the reasoning behind it.
And yes i do know the video was understanding and chill btw. There's just some people in the comments (and in general) who im more so talking to/about.
Personally, the only ones I have issue with are: James, as he isn’t exactly my ideal design Henry’s old shape at least on his other channel as it just doesn’t feel right Oliver, as I still feel like he should be great western Boco’s power bogeys being switched around Murdoch’s green being off, but that could easily because of Photoshop And the fact that the fandom seems to always find some sort of reason to bash on bad manor productions
Something I only just realized recently is that Awdry made a lot of the Mid Sodor models around the time of, or even a couple years after the last two books were published, with Tim and Albert (mk2 onward) both having tram skirts. So the whole tram skirt = female thing probably never even occurred to him.
Just remembered this, but Bear's name comes from a trait specific to the Hymeks, with their engines making noises that sound like growling. If his whole basis is changed, his name no longer makes sense.
@@keanes8608 In that case, he probably just...didn't care, and made the character first over a superficial name. I mean, iirc, isn't part of the smokebox called a 'bonnet' as well? It just seems like one of those things that's easy to ignore, especially when tram skirts can, and are removed. (Especially with Toby's basis seemingly doing it more frequently than they should've) Also, it's a side note, (sorry the side note is this long btw) but Toby being based on a specific unit that the Awdrys saw always, and the attachment they (or at least Christopher) seem to have to him have always made any sort of AU changes to _him_ in particular feel...weird. Like, ok, sure. Duck is a Southern Railway mogul in your AU? Makes no sense and ruins half of his character, but go ahead. Toby is changed slightly? Ehh...just feels weird. Obviously, I'm not an arbiter of anything, I just found it odd.
Tbh it would have been best if they had just made Oliver a southern engine technically in the same region it Allings with the paint and the wheel arrangement
Tbh I really don't enjoy the faces being the same color as the livery, It makes the engines look like bootleg TTTE toys you find in foreign markets And I am not the biggest fan of the over-saturated colors of some engines. Also Annie and Clarabel designs remind me of the season 12 CGI face concepts, which should be burned in the 5th layer of hell.
Actually Its Called The Little Western Because Of The Great Western Theme And Donald And Douglas Don't Work On The Little Western They're Just Utility Engines
Not fond of Oliver or Bill/Ben Fine with minor detail or correcting year changes like making Thomas younger than Gordon but making characters look completely different is just no for me. The painted faces are also ugly
Yeah if you where going to pick your basis for bear the diesel engine just pick a different basis for beat instead of a br baby warship plus we already have a br warship and that is diesel 10
Bro you say you don't care but you evidently do or you wouldn't be making this 😭It's his AU let bro do what he wants, this was honestly a really negative video just shitting on a lot of somebody else's work, honestly not a fan. You can have your opinion but don't make a whole video just dedicated to mainly being negative about somebody else's work. Its his AU, if you don't like it just don't interact with it.
yeahhhh this video is needlessly negative and not constructive like the stories of sodor videos. bro is just hating & shutting down any ideas that aren’t traditional😭
I'm not even being negative, I'm just giving honest critique about what I see. I only hate two of his takes and that's it, I agreed with most of his controversial takes. So I'm not to sure what the hell was the point of this comment, I do like his series, this is just my honest thoughts on it.
@@TheTrainTheoristOfficial I understand now. wasn’t trying to be hateful towars you, I like your theories and reviews. Just an observation. I still don’t think this video really fits in / is the same level of quality or analysis as your other ones but I understand your perspective now. thanks for responding
tbh man I’m a fan of your videos but this one kinda feels out of place. Obviously you have the right to have opinions on his AU, but at the same times it’s his series he can do what he wants. This kinda just feels lke harrassment especially cause you’ve created a platform for people to sh*t talk him. I don’t agree with all his takes, both train related ones and personal ones, but I do enjoy his videos a lot. This video feels kinda mean spirited, unlike your stories of sodor videos which seem to come from a place of love
