YMMV / Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go

• Aluminum Christmas Trees:
  • In "Sandy's Sandy Delivery", Carly builds extra tracks going up a hill, calling it a "switchback track". Though it works a little differently in real life, those kinds of tracks exist.
  • In "The Paint Problem", Thomas drives through Crumble Canyon and gets his paint scratched. Canyon winds can get pretty intense in real life, up to 100 miles per hour, and we saw Thomas being pelted with rocks and other objects, which can do a number on a paint job. Thomas was lucky that being scratched was the worst thing that happened to him.
  • In "A New View for Thomas", Harold and Thomas say "Wilco" to each other, the former explaining that it means "will comply". In radio communication, that is true.
  • A non-episode-specific example is in Ashima's name, which both in the reboot and real life is pronounced by stressing the first syllable, rather than the second as in the original series.
• And You Thought It Would Fail: The series was such a departure from almost everything that came before it that fans were revolted to the point that they were convinced the series would flop. Once the official premiere date came and went, however, All Engines Go was astonishingly successful, as not only did it win over its intended audience, but the "flaws" brought up by the older fanbase were mostly superficial, as despite the series falling victim to the same shortcomings as most similarly despised contemporaries, the dialogue was relatively sophisticated for what it had as the target audience, while the animation was more higher quality than most modern 2D animated shows, using traditional animation over Adobe Flash or Toon Boom. Most of the show's detractors have now also toned down their complaints, as aside from extreme exceptions which have quickly become reported, many slights against the show are now relatively mild and restrained.
• Awesome Music: While the reboot's usage of musical numbers has received a mixed response, the songs themselves are pretty catchy when taken in context. And then there's the fact that every song has an extended album release.
• Broken Aesop: "More Than a Pretty Engine" has a good message that didn't work given the context. Throughout the episode, Thomas, Diesel, Carly and Sandy try to prevent Ashima from doing any dirty work because they don't want her to scratch her paint job, Thomas even referencing the times it happened to him in "The Paint Problem" and "The Real Number One". Ashima discovers this and delivers a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to them... except her speech is about how her good looks don't detract from her physical strength. Except... the engines never believed Ashima was weak. They were only trying to protect her paint job. It would have worked better to say that Ashima would be damaged on the inside if she didn't risk the way she looked on the outside, to keep the message about not judging people based on their outward appearance.
• Creator's Pet: Thomas's prior status as this is sadly carried over here, and it has actually been taken up to eleven here - now, Thomas is the focus of every single episode to the point where many fan-favorite characters (from the books or otherwise) are either Demoted to Extra, shifted to supporting protagonists, or are absent altogether. This was downplayed starting with the episode "Nia's Perfect Plan", where supporting characters get the leading role while Thomas still appears in every episode.
• Critic-Proof: Despite widespread backlash from fans of the original show, the show has reportedly been doing well in ratings with merch having decent sales.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Even among the show's hatedom, Bruno is well-liked for being a good example of an autistic character done right. While Sandy and Kana did eventually win over some fans, the sheer amount of hate the show received meant that they had to fight a long battle to do so, while Bruno debuted during a period when the show's hate was at one of its lower stages.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • While Bruno was the subject of a meme that discourages others from talking about him (due to sharing his name with a character from Disney's Encanto, where the meme originated from), he quickly became a growing conversation topic which culminated in him becoming the most well-liked character original to the reboot. Ironically, people did the exact opposite of what the meme was telling them to do, and the character is now a conversation hot-topic.
  • Thomas fan and YouTuber Victor Tanzig tends to depict Whiff as a mad scientist in his personal canon videos. All Engines Go depicts Whiff pretty much the same way, though this version is MUCH friendlier and sociable.
• It's Popular, Now It Sucks!: A lot of fans felt this way when the episodes finally aired, but while most fans were relatively respectable about the subject, an alarming number of fans weren't as courteous and virulently attacked anyone who was reported to have liked the series, even going so far as to go after preschool children, the reboot's intended primary audience. Needless to say, this behavior was heavily frowned upon by the more respectable members of the fanbase, a number of whom were actually parents with children themselves. As such, they heavily discourage this and similar methods of expressing distaste. Fortunately, the vast majority of these cases have died down a year later, and aside from a few extreme exceptions most criticisms of the show in the present day are much more mild, diplomatic, and refrained. Fans have also become much more vigilant in reporting fans who do not respect others for liking the reboot and have become more conscious of promoting a fair and all-encompassing atmosphere for the fanbase.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • Neil Crone returning as the voice of Gordon after over 20 years has been cited by some fans as their reason for watching.
  • Bruno is also a major source of this, thanks to his status as a respectfully-portrayed character with autism.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Once the Americans get hold of it, the whole series would be vulgarized and ruined."^ExplanationThe line is an infamous quote from the original creator of The Railway Series, Rev. W. Awdry, made in response to the idea of selling all of the rights to his work to Andrew Lloyd Webber to secure funding from America for a cancelled animated adaptation. After the show was announced and details of it became known, the quote has seen newfound use by detractors as a response to it, often remarking that Awdry was completely right in his assumption (especially since the show is made by the American Mattel and the Canadian Nelvana).
  • Those trains?! ^ExplanationIn the episode "Dragon Run", Thomas is tasked to deliver a fake dragon for a medieval festival. However, the truck with the dragon becomes a runaway and ends up on a bridge, rolling towards Henry and Edward approaching from the other side. Horrified, Thomas cries out, "Oh no! It's gonna hit those trains!" The fact that Henry and Edward were referred to as 'those trains' instead of their proper names, after already being shunted aside in Big World Big Adventures, made Thomas' line subject to endless mockery.
  • "I'm gonna chug, I'm gonna choo..."
  • The first images pertaining to Bruno's designs lead to many fans referring to a song from a certain film released by Disney earlier in the year. The memes only slowed once Bruno's toys were released and a teaser trailer for season 2 came out. Following the early upload of Bruno's feature episode, the jokes all but stopped coming, with only a few small pokes here and there due to his new Ensemble Dark Horse status.
  • The writers have been watching Victor Tanzig. ^ExplanationWhen Whiff was introduced as something of a Mad Scientist, many fans were quick to note how similar he was (albeit friendlier) to his portrayal in Victor's Sodor Shorts.
• Moe: While heavily' criticized by older fans upon the full reveal, all of the characters were either portrayed as children or given modified designs to appear cuter. This works to a limited extent, but Percy, Bruno, and Sandy are standout examples for the series.
• Offending the Creator's Own: The series has been accused of being too much of a sensory overload for autistic children. At least some of the show's writers are on the spectrum themselves and created Bruno, a character who is autistic.
• Older Than They Think: The locomotives being referred to as trains. It happened in "The Trouble with Mud" from the original show via a sign reading "ALL TRAINS MUST WASH DOWN DAILY"^note Though it's possible that this was a mistake on the part of the member of railway staff who wrote the sign, and in the lyrics of the songs "Thomas' Anthem", "Toby", "Really Useful Engine", and "The Snow Song".
• Overshadowed by Controversy: While not as bad as Teen Titans Go!, it's rare to find any written feedback or commentary about the series that actually praises it, with most of the fan comments being very hateful before content creators began deleting the most overzealous and aggressive ones. In general, it's near-impossible to talk about All Engines Go with a Thomas fan without said fan adding at least one comment of displeasure.
• Salvaged Story: For the many criticisms the show receives over the original series, it is generally believed to handle the approach of adding new characters representing diverse groups far better than the later Big World, Big Adventures seasons. While the latter often took it to Anvilicious levels and sometimes hypocritically resorted to tired stereotypes or Flat Characters that often ended up unpopular for stealing screentime from fan favorites, All Engines Go treats it with more subtlety. This is most evident with Nia, who is carried over from Big World, albeit with far more focus on an actual personality over a Token Minority. The show even introduced an autistic character in the form of Bruno, with the nuanced handling of the character actually making him an Ensemble Dark Horse.
• So Okay, It's Average: While the show has received negative backlash from fans of The Railway Series and Thomas & Friends for the many changes made to the tone, cast and setting, in spite of the backlash, reception towards the first few episodes has leaned towards this direction, with many admitting that the show isn't bad when viewed on its own merits and arguing that if it wasn’t associated with the Thomas & Friends brand and was its own thing (or was just a spin-off or a series of YouTube shorts rather than a replacement for the original series), it could have been an alright (if generic) kids show. As such, some opinions of the show relaxed when it was revealed that it was in fact a separate spin-off of the Thomas branch rather than a continuation of the original series. It also helps that despite some controversial redesigns the toys are generally fun to play with, particularly the larger sets from the motorized range.
• Sweetness Aversion: This show gets flack for taking the simple charm of the original series and replacing it with a fun-loving saccharine cartoon with elements such as cuteified designs for the characters, the adult engines acting friendlier, and the four main characters who aren't Canon Foreigners (Thomas, Percy, Nia, and Diesel) turned into child characters that are voiced by actual kids.
• Tainted by the Preview: The first promo images for the reboot riled up fans so bad that a good number of them began sniping at those who claimed to like it.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Ooooh boy, to say fans and parents were cross at Mattel is a massive understatement. The initial announcement and the first images of the show were met with severe backlash from both the fandom and parents, a backlash that only grew as more details about the show were revealed due to it being a massive departure from what Thomas was known for to the point of being almost Thomas In Name Only. Several parents have also claimed that their children (aka, the show's target demographic) are not fond of the show either. In particular, autistic fans feel betrayed by the reboot because it goes against everything the original stood for; being a relatively calm and low-key series amidst a sea of rapid-fire ones. The calmness and simplicity made it very popular with autistic people, and now Mattel has taken that all away. By the end of the second season, most of these complaints have either died down or lessened in intensity, though aside from a small few who still treat it as an insult to the franchise after everyone else stopped worrying about it, most of the fanbase has learned to accept the new series as it is (or just pretend that it doesn't exist).
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!:
  • This is one of the biggest reasons why fans of the books and the original series despise the show, as many have criticized the show (and by extension Mattel) of stripping away everything that made Thomas beloved and unique in the first place, in favor of replicating and competing with modernized and generic Merchandise-Driven kids shows such as PAW Patrol and especially Chuggington.
  • Some fans have even accused them of ripping off the art style used by Hasbro Studios' works, namely My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Despite serious doubt that they'd appear, Edward and Henry make a cameo in one of the episodes released currently (With Edward being incorrectly depicted as a 6-4-0 instead of a 4-4-0).
  • Bulstrode has a cameo in "Chasing Rainbows", while he had a bigger role in "Thomas' Day Off" and "Race for the Sodor Cup".
  • Speaking of "Thomas' Day Off", Skiff also made an appearance in the episode, when Bulstrode asks him to get Thomas' beach ball back into the shore.
  • Unexpected actor in this case; when Toby's first episode aired with the Canadian vocals, fans were shocked to find he was voiced by Edward Glen, who last voiced Thomas himself in Thomas and the Magic Railroad.
  • The appearance of Winston in the third season trailer came as a big surprise for many, especially considering that Winston had suffered a severe case of Demoted to Extra in the original series and that Emily was seen as Sir Topham Hatt's chauffeur in the reboot.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: You can say a lot about the show’s overall quality and how it relates to Thomas himself, but the animation is pretty good for an animated preschool cartoon, being incredibly bouncy, expressive and fluid. Even many detractors of the show have admitted that the animation quality is one of the show's very few highlights, despite the art style and character designs receiving significant backlash.

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