iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Oh my god I've literally just noticed Vicarstown Sheds from Edward's Day Out is in Really Helpful Engines

Screenshot from "Really Helpful Engines" of Thomas and Rosie shunting coaches in Vicarstown Yards

Previous screenshot zoomed in to focus on a suspiciously familiar engine shed in the background

The first illustration of "Edward's Day Out" (C.R. Dalby version), depicting Edward in Vicarstown Sheds with five other engines - the shed matches that seen at Vicarstown Yards in "Really Helpful Engines"

34314

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Regardless, I look forward to seeing more of this take on the world of Sodor and its characters As part of the TTTE wiki staff team I'd also like to ask, if I may: 1. Was "Crane Truck Jay" Deepak's working name or are they separate? 2. Does this station that crops up a few times have a name?

Screenshot from Thomas & Friends: Really Helpful Engines

Thomas passes a seaside station nearby a small bridge, with a single platform facing the ocean and a footbridge across the three running lines to the car park and beach

021

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

So what the hell was going on with Percy's smokebox saddle anyway?? Why is it a different design on both the die-cast and motorised toys? Why does the weird promo art have the slab underneath painted black but only sometimes?

Promotional image of Percy's 2026 design, featuring his original smokebox design but with the slab underneath painted black on the front

Percy's 2026 motorised toy, featuring a redesigned smokebox saddle which is larger and connects cleanly to the smokebox itself

Percy's final design from the Really Helpful Engines trailer, where his smokebox saddle has its original design again??

381

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

The thought just dawned on me last night that the overuse of plastic in the Thomas 2026 die-cast range might be a result of The Tariffs and what do you fucking know

The first paragraph on Wikipedia from the page about the 2025-present US tariffs; highlighted excerpt reads "[...]the items most affected by the tariffs are metals, items mostly made of metal[...]"

Picture of the Thomas & Friends 2026 die-cast Duck, with the only metal piece on him being the cab and underside of the tanks

1123

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

It's not a matter of "if" It's a matter of "when"

1257

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

You know you're experiencing peak when the Moon is involved

Wallace and Gromit having a picnic on the Moon, from "A Grand Day Out"

Wheatley and Chell being sucked through a blue portal on the surface of the Moon, from "Portal 2"

Oliver viewed from behind illuminated by the Moon, from "Tobias and the Arcane Merchant"

Rin Penrose on the Moon, from "They Put Rin Penrose on the Moon"

072

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Hello my favourite streamer is streaming my special interest what the fuck??

"Thomas & Friends: Wonders of Sodor (Deluxe Edition)" promotional image, with the "Including James Add-On" edited to say "Including Snebby Add-On" with a picture of Snebby in the middle.

160

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

There is hope yet for Duck and Oliver being in a darker, more 'Great Western' shade of green

Illustration of Duck and Oliver - both in the GWR's dark green livery - at Haultraugh Station with their respective autocoaches, from the book "Enterprising Engines" in The Railway Series

0120

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Something interesting I haven't seen many people bring up about the new die-cast Toad is that the bluish-grey colour they've changed him to is seemingly based directly on the GWR's standard goods stock livery, rather than the BR-ish grey colour the TVS went with

Thomas & Friends 2026 die-cast of Toad the brake van

GWR Diagram AA23 'Toad' brake van No. 950592 in the GWR's standard goods stock livery

1205

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

Oh crap I forgot to post this on here yesterday like I meant to uhhh

Tobias and the Sentinels-themed Valentine's Day card

The background is the shot of the second Warshire Reset, with blue electricity intertwining with the flames produced by the Designers' Machine

Text in the centre of the card reads: "OLIVER is red, TOBIAS is blue, I promise to always, be there for YOU"; there is an image of Henrietta in her motorised form (with the added traction motors on her axles) underneath

The text for "OLIVER" is coloured red, "TOBIAS" is coloured blue, "I" is coloured orange (for Henrietta), and "YOU" is coloured brown (for Toby)

061

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

They made Flynn better, but at what cost?

Panel 1: Flynn (CGI series) is in a hospital bed, Harold (also CGI series) leans over him and says "good luck"

Panel 2: 3 hours later, Flynn (now in his 2026 series design) is still in the hospital bed; a doctor says "your chud energy reduction was a success!"

Panel 3: Flynn sits up and says "where is Harold?", the doctor responds "who do you think took your chud energy?"

Panel 4: Harold (2026 series design) lies asleep in another hospital bed, Flynn cries "NOO!!" leaning over him

0215

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

You know I gotta give the people behind the 2026 series credit, their redesign for Bulgy is a great way of updating his "telling whoppers until no-one believes his destination boards" schtick for a contemporary audience

The infamous "Vote Leave Bus" with Bulgy's face (stylised with new eyes to resemble the 2026 Thomas & Friends series designs) and license plate

1111

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Pair S.C. Ruffey with Oliver challenge failed immediately

TrackMaster Duck with S.C. Ruffey and Toad

060

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

"I can make him better" yeah well I can make him worse

Thomas the Elephant with the face from the 2026 series version of Thomas

4237

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

Based on the toys, I'm guessing the 2026 series will reuse the existing CGI series character models but with new faces and textures to give them a fresh look (and the sets likely rebuilt from the ground-up using the existing assets like Arc had to do after taking over from Nitrogen)

3174

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 21/12/2025

This is the best meme I've made this year I think

Dramatic Crossroads meme template with the text "being known for losing races" at the fork in the path

On the left-hand/"light" side is Haru Urara (Uma Musume) and on the right-hand/"dark" side is Chick Hicks (Cars)

060

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

Since MIPJunior's coming up next weekend there's a good chance we'll get our first looks at the untitled 2026 series from there (we got early previews for BWBA and AEG from there before), so I made a bingo chart of potential returnees in anticipation of that

A 5x5 bingo sheet of several Thomas & Friends characters, who are potential candidates for the as-of-yet untitled 2026 series.

Row 1: Henrietta, Toby, Edward, Henry, Bertie
Row 2: Hiro, Bruno, Diesel, Gordon, Emily
Row 3: Ashima, Nia, Thomas, Percy, Harold
Row 4: Duck, The Fat Controller, James, Annie & Clarabel, Cranky
Row 5: Yong Bao, Rosie, Flying Scotsman, Terence, Salty

2186

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Behold: The Montacube "We both know how he was: angry, vengeful and squared" My 3D modelling career has peaked here I think

A render of a cube in Blender with one of Montague's face textures from "TOBIAS AND THE HALF-PARIAH" textured on each side.

194

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

IT IS MY YAOI, MINE, I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE BISEXUAL ENGINE, IT IS MY RIGHT

Montague screaming from the climax of Tobias and the Half-Pariah

0263

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

In my mind's eye he looks something like this: a four-wheeled railway crane that can easily fit into a smaller pack and works as an independent character, since Rocky's quite big and Judy/Jerome are a duo

A Hornby-Meccano four-wheeled railway crane; red with a black chassis, white text on the side reads "TO LIFT 10 TONS"

150

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

So an interesting piece of information I got from Sam Wilkinson during my exhibition slot at AE5 "Conrad's Bridge" was apparently the production name used for the Castle Tunnel from S3; I'm unsure how this factors into "Tidmouth Tunnel", which is also marked separately on the map

Cropped section of the 2014 Island of Sodor map, showing the markers for Conrad's Bridge and Tidmouth Tunnel

The castle tunnel from Series 3 of 'Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'

0142

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

We'll make our own kingdom You and me With a shed By the sea Together (Went to AE5, will probably post a thread later?)

Tywyn Beach; the Sun shines low down through the clouds

020

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

The inspector when he comes to the engine shed in 1959 to check over the new goods engine the Fat Controller ordered from the Scottish Region

1100

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

Reminder that Thomas got a hydrogen conversion before it was cool

A screenshot of the hydrogen fuel cell-powered "Thomas" from the James May's Toy Stories episode "The Great Train Race"

1141

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

POV: it is 1am and you hear the wind up of a wind up Toby

An image of Tobias' blue eyes shining through fog right before he charges at the guard from 'Tobias and the Arcane Merchant', darkened to make it look less bright.

151

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 06/04/2025

Which brings us to a new item that I'm calling "Well I Certainly Didn't Expect to See That"

193

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

Hold up, I've just noticed Brass Toby has cylinder heads underneath his cowcatcher

Toby's brass model from the twelfth series of Thomas & Friends

A close-up of the cowcatcher on Toby's brass model, showing the cylinder heads underneath

1315

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Thus, I've come to this conclusion: it's a metaphor for the story of Oliver and Tobias in this film. Oliver starts out confident, but is dragged back down to his former timid self by Tobias. Though both try to forge a new future for themselves, neither are able to escape the influence of the past.

Oliver (in tank engine form) and Tobias (in "blue eyes" form) at Laournaeth, viewed from inside the engine shed.

040

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

1. Laournaeth and Roansfield - both linked to Toby's past - are both next to large bodies of water 2. The Warshire Reset - which brings back the dormant personality - is based around water 3. Toby's mindscape - where he is forced to confront his past - takes place on the surface of water

Toby in a pond surrounded by arcs of blue electricity, midway through the first Warshire Reset.

Toby in his mindscape, surrounded by a black void on top of a rippled surface of water.

140

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

As others have pointed out before, Tobias is the Sun and Oliver is the Moon - we see this in various bits of symbolism throughout the film Recently, however, I came to another realisation about symbolism in TATAM: water represents the past

150

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

The Laournaeth Shanty: an analysis 🧵 (Spoilers for Arcane Merchant, obvs.) A couple of weeks ago I came to a realisation that made a lot of things click in TATAM, particularly the meaning behind the shanty #TobiasandtheArcaneMerchant #ArcaneMerchant #ArcaneMerchantSpoilers #TATAM #TATAMSpoilers

Two tram engines - facing away from the camera, each pulling a brake van - head towards Laournaeth Harbour...

1111

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Cursed Terence fact: He has now had more speaking roles in All Engines Go than he did in the entire twenty-four series run of the original show

Image of Terence the Tractor jumping out of a pile of leaves in "Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go"

Image of Terence the Tractor from Series 2 of "Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends"

3375

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

Exclusive RWS Thomas variant in the Bachmann 80th anniversary set Look at him He is the handsomest boi

Variant of Bachmann Thomas with livery inspired by The Railway Series from the 80th anniversary OO gauge set. Detail changes include silver buffers, an altered number 1, an extra boiler band behind the smokebox and the gap between the tanks and splashers being painted black.

5509

TheAusterityEngine @austerityengine.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

IMO James is one of the more underrated characters in TATAM He doesn't get quite as many scenes as the other leads, but he has such a presence every time he appears with his foreboding score and how well his VA conveys James' resentment Also I love the little mob he brings around with him

Image of James from 'Tobias and the Arcane Merchant'

2266