Chuggington - A Traintastic Retrospective

[@RudhlyD]

Helping out with this video has to be one the highlights of the year so far! I'd say you gave a respectful (but fair) analysis of the series. So many Thomas fans are so bias, I feel they dislike the show for the wrong reasons. Glad to know that this and other videos will help to show Chuggington's true beauty!

[@TheSudrianTerrier653]

*insert memories of Rudhly Killing decka*

[@Trainboy56team]

Same here

[@CrilG-Games]

please can you make the cleaned up soundtracks publicly available????!!

[@robbiewalker2831]

I believe the main reason Chuggington is hated by the "Railway Series" community is because it breaks Awdry's golden rule: Train Engines are Train Engines, not cartoons. You have to keep in mind, Rev. Awdry make his book series, and agreed to make it into a televised series in the 80s, was because not only were they stories made to be read to children as well as adults, or how they were based on real-life train stories and train engines, but Rev. Awdry wanted his characters to be personified on the outside, but still be actual train engines on the inside; and that's because not a lot of cartoons cared for creative limitations to connect between fantasy and reality, and the more surreal the Train, the less real it is. The unmitigated gaul that Dick Rothkopf would say he wanted a "better version of Thomas" is an insult to all the hard work Rev. Awdry went through, on top of Mattel derailed Awdry's golden rule just to compete with Chuggington!

[@IsleofPigsStudios]

Another thing that makes Chuggington different than Thomas is the faces. Most Thomas characters have the face be a grayish color, while some rolling stock characters, non rail characters, and a few characters in the RWS had their faces be the same color as the engine. Chuggington has the faces as a part of the engine, similar to some RWS characters like BoCo, D199 or Bear

[@sockshandle]

Daisy bulgy the old bartender character… come to mind when one thinks of “Engines with the faces being part of their bodies”

[@OmniMon94]

Yeah it's kinda better ngl Because there are some characters that just get gray faces Toby for example is just a square face of grey clay

[@2MTMogul]

@@sockshandlealso known as embedded faces

[@joshuaW5621]

Chuggington is to Thomas what Family Guy is to the Simpsons and what the Jetsons is to the Flintstones.

[@KBY30]

That’s a very apt analogy actually.

[@Tobytramproductions]

Thomas was confused

[@someonewhotalks]

And what Handy Manny is to Bob the Builder

[@mr.meloetta1939]

what Palworld is to Pokémon

[@WaksWorld05]

And what Bendy was to Fnaf

[@HiroTheJapaneseTrain]

I am glad that we as a fandom are reopening this conversation about Chuggington. I think when the show came out we have always talked about it from an adversarial lens - Chuggington was always a “threat” to Thomas. I found your argument that Thomas was influenced by Chuggington very convincing, and totally agree that Thomas trying to be something it wasn’t crippled its identity. I firmly believe that Chuggington is far better than AEG, in my opinion. This was a very refreshing video. Awesome job!

[@ThomasTheorist]

That means a lot coming from you! I watched your unboxing of chuggington characters, and tbh, a lot of what you said influence this video!

[@fanofeverything30465]

I've never really felt one way or the other about Chuggington but more recently I've been learning more towards fan than hater I think my view on it was just tainted by the fact that the show threatened Thomas's popularity Once I learned that it hadn't challenged Thomas's popularity I actually started to like it

[@dikkekipgaming]

I can't believe Chuggington ripped off the iconic character Gordon's Snow Machine /s

[@WaksWorld05]

To my knowledge, the reason Season 6 had little main characters was because of low budget, given this was Herschend’s first rodeo with a cartoon.

[@julianhudson7811]

The same Herschend who owns Dollywood & Silver Dollar City!

[@toomuchtoby1]

I think one of the main reasons Chuggington gets its hate is because of how it tried to overtake Thomas, but in reality, the show isn’t THAT bad. It’s great that you are actually giving it a good analysis. One of your best vids Adam!! 🚂

[@TrainBoyOhio]

Agreed 👍

[@plumberchoochooman]

Facts (Also didn't expect to see you here lol)

[@toomuchtoby1]

@@plumberchoochooman Ofc I’m here lmao

[@plumberchoochooman]

@@toomuchtoby1 Ik, just still surprising lol

[@ethanplath6091]

Here's the thing, it'd be a WAY different matter if Dick was trying to ride the success of Thomas and not trying to "improve" it.

[@WaksWorld05]

Also Piper is meant to be a young steam engine, because she’s meant to be a more modern eco friendly steam engine (she was said to run on vegetable oil).

[@Ninja11125]

Bruh what

[@gothnerd887]

I heard she was a hybrid of steam and electricity

[@Imsorrywat]

An engine running on a store item… interesting.

[@1newfieland]

We need an engine to run on baby oil

[@InventorZahran]

@@ImsorrywatIn the real world, there is a form of diesel fuel that's made from corn oil (or even discarded cooling grease). It's called biodiesel, and most engines can run on it with no modifications. I don't know if anyone has ever fueled a *steam locomotive* with vegetable oil, but it's certainly possible.

[@mattevans4377]

Chugginton creator: I want to kill Thomas! Mattel: Hold our train!

[@thatphonebastard]

Drayton manor: **drops it**

[@Shiny_Firey]

Hasbro: I can’t let them do this to the childhood tank engine, I must buy him from them

[@desenhosanimados2010]

​@@Shiny_Fireystop being ignorant, they fired people nowadays for no reason or for stupid and bad reasons

[@gabes3dworldofficial]

thomas: "hold up lemme just imagine myself as a rocket launcher." ok but now i need to see a death battle (thomas would 100% win tho... totally not biased-)

[@Shiny_Firey]

@@desenhosanimados2010how am I being ignorant? I only said one thing

[@sammyclark4992]

It makes me happy to see more people giving this show the recognition it deserves. Chuggington is a series whose reputation I feel as though was tarnished because of what most Thomas fans have grown to believe. We're all entitled to our own opinions, and it's okay not to like something. But the fact that there's still people out there who will argue the same thing about Chuggington being a "Thomas rip-off" and such and such has become old at this point. While it was made because of Thomas and to compete against it, it shouldn't be constantly compared to Thomas in that regard. It's too easy. But I feel like that aspect is what tainted Chuggington's reputation amongst Thomas fans because you never see people talking about or getting this mad at other train-based shows like Titipo Titipo or Mighty Express. The Little Engine That Could doesn't count as that predates Thomas and the Railway Series, too. I'm not saying people have to like this show, but at the very least, try to give it a proper watch to give an entitled opinion; even if it's just one or two episodes, that's still something. Besides, around the time Chuggington did come out, Thomas wasn't exactly doing good itself, and now look where that series has ended. And even though I don't like All Engines Go like a lot of people, I still watch the series so I can get an opinion on episodes and see if anything good comes out of it. It's nothing good in my opinion, but at least I'm giving it a chance by actually watching it. And I think Chuggington deserves that same treatment, even though I'm not expecting people to do the same for AEG. But if there's people who still refuse to watch Chuggington, just say it's not for you and don't go off by what other people have said about it for years. In the end, it's too easy... again. I'm also just gonna say now that Wilson is my favorite from Chuggington. I don't know why, but I kind of just relate to him in some way. Sometimes on purpose. Don't ask. I'd also like to briefly recommend episodes like Tour Guide Harrison and Delivery Challenge as those are, in my opinion, some of the best episodes to come out not just from Season 5 but the entire series. Both are episodes that are focused on side characters, with all of the mains not having any roles.

[@TheLazyFusspot_3428]

I wouldn't say it's exactly a ripoff of Thomas per se, but I honestly just prefer the vibe of the classics and Brenner era, and to an extent, the writing style of Wilbert Awdry in his books. I still prefer TTTE over Chuggington, but I'll admit, it did see better days than what it is now.

[@WaksWorld05]

As somebody who’s a big fan of Chuggington and made a big video on it, I’m glad I’m not alone in covering this show anymore!

[@xstudentjake5400]

Remember the original Railway Series never had a main character it was only when Hit entertainment purchased Thomas and friends They decided to make him the main character

[@Hercules658]

not entirely true. it was always thomas being the main character since day one of the show. hence the name "thomas the tank engine and friends". however, HIT did push thomas being the main character(a hell of a lot too much)

[@Nic_2751]

Uh, the show was literally named after him

[@temunator2951]

you know, this just made me realise an interesting connection, between Thomas and Sherlock.

[@EternityKingdomsHeadHoncho]

I think Chuggington legitimately deserves more credit than we once gave it. Sure, it’s nowhere near Thomas at its best (and comparing it to the Railway Series would be an insult to everything Wilbert and Christopher wrote), but it was competently animated and written, the merchandise was well-made, the designs aren’t that bad (and the decision to focus on modern diesels and electric engines was indeed smart), and the world is pretty unique for a talking vehicle show. Despite it being created with the intent of being “Thomas but modern and better for this generation”, it managed to carve out its own little niche. Also it actually stayed true to what it was meant to be the whole way through. That’s something it’s got over Thomas.

[@ChimmyAnimate]

Thank you for serving justice to my childhood :)

[@bigmansedan9077]

So I'm gonna be telling my little journey with chuggington. Back when I was like six I was quite the thomas fam but the thing was it barely ever aired where I lived. So every morning I would always wake-up to see an other train show that coincidentally played in my prep time waiting for the schoolbus. What I always liked about the show was the "futuristic" modern look of it, the fact that the protagonists where kids like I was, and let's not forget the overall character designs. Cause I always found them to be very neat and diverse within' the show, you know next to always having a grey face be put on a locomotive and call it a day. Also it was just great fun, even my parents didn't mind catching it with me ( my mother used to sing the opening lyrics of the intro around the house just because😂) and I loved that. I even remember my dad commenting on how the engines in thomas are like super dumb with how much major property damages and crashes they where having.( mind you this was when the CGI-Hit era episodes where comin out fresh) And after eventually thomas eventually came on hours I could watch it I really didn't really care because my 'Anthropomorphic Train' niche was already filled by Chuggington. Later on I would watch the later episodes (s4-5) on the internet and be pretty satisfied with what the show had become and then I just left it at that. Chuggington was a good kid show to watch and I am happy with the time I had spent on it

[@davidmolin8944]

As someone with both adhd and autism I finally understand why I liked both shows lol. I remember watching Chuggington episodes on KZbin back in 2010 or so and I really loved both shows but I think I enjoyed Chuggington more back then compared to today

[@JoeyMBrooklyn]

I haven't finished the video, but I wanted to share my thoughts. I see Chuggington as a backwards mirror to Thomas. Thomas is set in Britain, and Chuggington is somewhere in America. While Sodor is mostly steam powered with a few diesels, Chuggington is more diesel powered with a few steamers. And where the RWS stuck to Railway Realism, Chuggington throws all logic out the window and has fun with it.

[@雪者]

Sounds about right

[@Steamtheamaricanengine]

And throwing out logic works in chuggington unlike thomas which has felllllll down a 20000 mile hole to the center of the earth

[@Steamtheamaricanengine]

With thomas being in the state it is right now chuggington might be able to make a comeback

[@fanofeverything30465]

I agree

[@TheLazyFusspot_3428]

Tbf, I still prefer the classy, quaint, grounded and realistic vibe that TTTE/RWS had as I grew up over the years. I do think Chuggington is fairly good on its own, but it just doesn't compare or hold up to what TTTE/RWS really stood for in my younger phase and so on as I grew up over the years. Edit: Also the points you made about Thomas is mostly about the 9 seasons of the HiT era. In the books and classics, the characters DO progress and the stories are often varied.

[@rmgilyard]

At least Chuggington has the charm and passion put into it, unlike (AEG, TTG, or PP)

[@TheLazyFusspot_3428]

@@rmgilyard Tbf it's sad to see corporations strip Thomas of its identity that its current main target demo is what people associate the show with nowadays.

[@fanofeverything30465]

​@@rmgilyardWhat's TTG

[@fanofeverything30465]

I agree

[@BrentSudric]

Another example of Chuggington having respresentation was having Hoot being colourbind, which kids and adults can relate to. Also I think Dunbar leaving and Skylar replacing him was representing when our teachers leave/retire

[@UsefulEngine11]

I will admit it is weird that a long time ago I used to be a chuggington fan around the time when Thomas was not as good yeah I still watch both and would go back and forth between them. I guess when Thomas did get better I slowly phased out of chuggington. And while I do still see Thomas as Superior in some ways there are some things in chuggington that I can appreciate and yeah I prefer to watch chuggington over AEG any day. This was a great video Adam and something that I wasn't sure I wanted to come back to as I kind of wanted to leave this part of my childhood behind honestly but again I found some things in this video that I can actually appreciate so keep up the good work man!

[@gothnerd887]

14:51 she's an AI, like if The Fat Controller got fired and replaced by GLaDOS or Shodan but they were a lot less evil. I like Vee, it's nice to have an AI that doesn’t hate humans for once.

[@Mr_FMK]

I can still remember how in one episode a fuse box or something was damaged and Vee went completely crazy afterwards. no voice and everything mixed up.

[@Northerner_Transport_Hub]

I think personally it's a person in a room, maybe the GIANT building above the 4 tunnels in the depot. It'd understand why only 1 chugger at a time can speak with her

[@gothnerd887]

​@@Northerner_Transport_Hubif she's a human maybe she has agoraphobia or photophobia and that's why she has to control everything from inside

[@fanofeverything30465]

I agree

[@SonicXtreme99akaCreeperMario]

So yeah, smash!

[@TheOldScrapIron]

I was one of the people who never really understood all the hate Chuggington got from Thomas fans. Like, I get it on a surface level, because it definitely looks like a ripoff on the outside. But if you actually watched the show, you’d be able to tell pretty quickly that it was trying to be its own thing. If you look below the surface, Chuggington definitely was trying to be something completely different than what Thomas was, and I always appreciated it for that. The show definitely has its highs and lows, but I never disliked Chuggington.

[@BriceInkling138]

I couldn't have agreed more.

[@happymark1668]

Thomas was stuck with realism while Chugginton didn’t have to be

[@skarloey1214]

Thomas has moved past that for better or worse

[@jayvonnoelsmith8445]

True

[@gb9727]

My fictional show that i keep envisioning has realism

[@Jediah-s6p]

@@gb9727you don’t have a show

[@gb9727]

@@Jediah-s6p as I said, it's purely fictional

[@LegoMiester14]

30:11. This was hilarious! Great video, keep up the good work.

[@thethreerailwayengines825]

The only episode of Chuggington I even vaguely remember is the one where they learnt how to switch points by themselves. Even as a little kid I remember just sitting there like "...this wouldn't happen in Thomas..."

[@Rusty-the-Protogen]

And then the wheel hands thing happend and they started pulling the levers... Yeah, Chuggington did that better.

[@garrettsmith2776]

I believe said episode is called “Koko And The Tunnel”.

[@joshslater2426]

You’ve brought back a few memories from my childhood. Me and my brother had Chugginton toys when we were young. One we had was a toy of Irvin, who spooked my mother by exclaiming “I like things neat and tidy!” at my mother when she was cleaning my brother’s room. Later on, my aunt bought us a play set of the sheds… but it was somehow a model from France. As a result, it babbled on at us in French, and communicated with our other Chugginton toys in French whilst the other toys spoke in English. I forget if we still have these toys in storage somewhere.

[@trainboy678]

Because of you Adam, you’ve got me on a Father Ted kick! Thanks for the introduction to a great show

[@SeaSwine9]

I love that Dick has a dissected WW Thomas mounted on his wall.

[@ThomasTheorist]

The man did work on a lot of Thomas toys for HiT, but yes HE SPLIT THE POOR BUGGER

[@urtooslow4415]

As a broke guy, I really didn't need to see that

[@loganmargison1016]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[@portalmaster07]

me diagnosed with both ADHD and autism and liking chuggington & thomas equally: "I’m playing both sides, so that I always come out on top"

[@pepsicannot]

It’s funny that some would not be a big fan of Thomas decided to make their own show about trains. Chugginton is one of the shows that I was on the hate train slowly because of my Thomas leans, but after this I may consider giving Chugginton a chance

[@mechanicalshed4556]

Awesome retrospective! Chuggington is strangely one of those shows I've never come back to, didn't even finish the second season. Appreciate the show a lot more now, might have to give it a rewatch 🚅

[@JonathanAsiamah]

Chuggington was one of the shows I've watched a lot on CBeebies every time I come home from school. Admittedly, I couldn't get enough of it as a kid. Overtime, however, I haven't been up to date with it nowadays. I'm still not fond of Chuggington, but it is an alright show. Also, little fun fact: Dai Tabuchi, Hanzo's voice actor, also voiced Kenji and Hiro in All Engines Go.

[@jonahg4472]

I grew up on Thomas, specifically the Jack and The Pack DVD, but eventually it fell off for me, and I found Chuggington, which I fell in love with. I came back to Thomas around SLOTLT, and honestly I've gone back and forth ever since. I have both ADHD and Austism, so both shows speak to me, and there's something to love in both of them. For me, Brewster was extremely relatable with his organization, while Jack the front loader's impulsiveness spoke to me more than Wilson's did. And now I'm going to college for architecture, no wonder I liked The Pack and The Chuggineers so much.

[@The_British_Director]

30:12 A little rain never hurt anybody 💀💀💀

[@ScythoBoyNm4856]

Once an engine, attached to a train, was afraid of a few drops of rain. He hid in a tunnel and squeaked trough his funnel and never came ou again. And in that dark tunnel, there were brown puddles-

[@dorkarrijohnson4738]

Chugging to really diknow what they were saying when they said the little rain never hurt anybody. That probably was a reference to Henry.

[@inspectorjohnnywolfergad4149]

DAAAAAAMMMMMMNNNNN!!!!!🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂

[@plumberchoochooman]

Great review! I remember watching Chuggington all the time on Disney Junior back then, and was a huge fan of it! Glad someone is talking about this underrated show! (Also WILSON'S VA DID WHAT-)

[@toomuchtoby1]

TREMBLING TRACKS

[@plumberchoochooman]

@@toomuchtoby1 This does not Train the tastic

[@toomuchtoby1]

@@plumberchoochooman This does not honk the horn

[@plumberchoochooman]

@@toomuchtoby1 This does not wheels to the rails

[@toomuchtoby1]

@@plumberchoochooman This does not click to the clack

[@williampulfer-melville8536]

5:46 Charlie George actually did the voice of Jess the cat in the Postman Pat spin off Guess with Jess

[@Domina7ion]

I've watched a bit of chuggington with my son. Here are my thoughts: The characters and stories are pretty good. I love the idea of a world where everything is built around trains, and I wish they'd done some more world building around that. The human characters felt sort of superfluous - the world almost feels like a "Cars" world but with trains - but I guess passenger chuggers gotta take something, right? The trains felt weightless - in some ways it felt like a toy train world, which isn't a bad thing - kids like toys. Watching the trains follow each other at speed on a single track with no block sections gives me anxiety.

[@Remnant09]

Don’t get me wrong, I am a diehard Thomas fan. But I thought I’d give a fair chance to a show looming in the back of my memory

[@SCAX873]

I get you bro.

[@fanofeverything30465]

It deserves a fair chance

[@drevianedwardsproductions9244]

I remember Chuggington on Disney Junior back in the day. The episode I remember is undercover action chugger.

[@ps7372]

The way I see it, Thomas and Chuggington both stole from each other.

[@BriceInkling138]

I think The Fat Controller told me that some of his engines like Thomas, Henry, Gordon, Duck, Ryan maybe, and a few other engines that found out about Chuggington I can think of opposed the show out of jealousy. But with all jokes aside, this is a pretty good point.

[@calebc.2290]

Can I just say this is the first time i’ve heard and knew of a uk dub for this show, and after knowing their US voices for so long this is so surreal. it’s like finding out Michael Angelis for the first time all over again instead of Michael Brandon.

[@LolbeeSFM]

8:28 (basically the part bringing up ADHD and Autism) As someone who has both, I found both very appealing, I liked the slow pace and easy to read faces of Thomas and Friends but I liked Chuggington because of its fast pace and what not so honestly, I love both series equally.

[@Warriorwolf]

Chuggington streamed when my brother was still at the age of Disney cartoons and he had the tv most of the time so I watched quite a few episodes of this lolq

[@number1thomasfan]

To see people giving chuggington a chance warms my heart, as a kid i loved both Thomas and Chuggington, and when I discovered the Thomas side of KZbin and saw people bashing chuggington, i kinda made my sad, because even as a kid i could tell Thomas and Chuggington had there own merits that separated them from each other, and yeah, right when bwba came out was the moment I realized Thomas was trying to be chuggington, huge mistake on Mattel's part, but I suppose, from a certain point of view, it was also a blessing in disguise seeing as it's really given more of a frame of reference of what chuggington did to stand out from Thomas... Also as someone who grew up with chuggington's us dub, I now officially expect Scottish Dunbar as the only Voice he has

[@shivamkamil1581]

I've seen the entirety of the original series and some episodes of the reboot, and I think I can safely say the reboot is missing the childlike charm of the original. Speaking of which, I'd much rather have the original Chuggington series over the seasons of Thomas where they're trying too hard to BE Chuggington, the Thomas episode "The Big Freeze" is literally just the Chuggington episode with the exact same name and plot lol

[@King_Kavin25]

Thanks for uncovering this gold mine of a show. The nostalgia you've filled me with is insane. I honestly think Chuggington got more hate than it deserved, the characters and plots were always fun, if a bit unrealistic. (Still better than AEG) Can't thank you enough mate.

[@islandofsodorflims8712]

Great work on the retrospective mate also since I've been a fan, of Chuggington since I was 7 I do agree that most Thomas fans should give the show a chance.

[@AJOlaks]

I got both ADHD and Autism, and despite the good of Chuggington, it just can't compete with early Thomas

[@TheLazyFusspot_3428]

And the Railway Series. It's just on another level for me as I grew up over the years.

[@teatime4me_now]

Those are my fav shows too!❤ Reminds me of my childhood :(❤

[@Progobro25]

Fun Fact: Chuggington originally had a planned 7th season writing started in February 2021. With Twenty episodes and three new specials being confirmed into production. However in November 2022 it was marked as unaired on Tom Hall's Linkedin account meaning that it had either been delayed or cancelled. A year later however in November 2023 it was cancelled marking the entire show's run done.

[@erintwomey3846]

28:13 Aside from the best new job in Season 4, I think Koko also has the greatest mentor. I love Hanzo as a character (Though I think Season 6 pretty much screwed him over). I think Hanzo is the perfect blend of a playful best friend, a wise mentor, and a caring father figure. And his interactions with Koko are so sweet and wholesome. For instance, in "Runaway Koko," he tried to slow Koko down even though rescuing wasn't his job. In the episodes "Snow Patrol" and "Koko Express," he was worried about her when he didn't know where she was, and hoped that she was okay, seemingly more than her jobs that she was doing. And their bond goes both ways. Koko looks up to and admires Hanzo, and does whatever she can to help him, such as helping him when he broke down, getting a new part for him, and taking over his jobs when he was unable to do them. Out of the three trainee/mentor duos, I think Koko and Hanzo are my favorite. They seem to have the strongest bond out of the three of them.

[@DavidBContentExtravaganza3967]

I must say, that is a great review on Chuggington and you've done a good job on it. It deserves more love, even Season 4 and 5 for having the trainees move up to advanced training. I like Season 4 and 5 the way they are too so you're not the only one. The trainees has to do their new working jobs with the groups on their own despite little interaction with each other so that they can be Really Useful. They can't always work together you know. I don't mind the side characters be minor in Season 4 since the episodes focusing on Chug Patrol, The Chuggineers and Speed Fleet are all good. I also like Season 6 as well despite being different since I'm happy the show came back after so long though I'm not happy about the cast being minimized. Piper and Skylar are fine as they are as characters since not every steam engine character has to be elderly, he or she can be younger too which Piper fits the bill perfectly and Skylar being a crane chugger like Harvey is nice too. I hope you understand my thoughts on those things. It's a shame the show get canceled after making a comeback in Season 6 but oh well, it had a great run and that we get to see it again one last time. I often pair Chuggington characters with Thomas characters like Henry and Chatsworth, Edward, Toby, Dunbar and Old Puffer Pete and Olwin and Spencer. Sometimes I imagine Chuggington having a movie and perhaps even adding antagonists or full fledged villains to it to make it more interesting to try it out since not every character has to be good guys you know and a perfect change of pace, not to mention creating a character based off a Class 08 shunter would be great too. I did not expect to know that Wilson's first UK voice actor did bad things with sex later on in his life. What a downfall since Chuggington. Bet that his fellow actors are appalled by it. Overall a great video on Chuggington and hopefully you'II have it in future videos alongside Thomas and perhaps include Fireman Sam and Bob the Builder in them as well because I would like to hear your thoughts on those two shows too. Best of luck and see you next time.

[@wondermenel2811]

Real nice, would love more longer retrospectives like this

[@TrainBoi227]

Wait just a sec That whistle at 18:26 That's not Merlin That's a pitched-down Fergus!

[@tylerbarth3113]

6:40 That OH NO killed me. I was born in 1998 and grew up on Thomas season 5, 6 and 7, mostly. I became terrified of the models eventually (yes really), and in 2005 was diagnosed with ADHD. I continued to play with the Wooden Railway until about 2009. I rediscovered Thomas around 2019. I think if I had been born in 2007, I would have been watching this and probably would have loved it. I knew nothing about Chuggington except that it was often playing on the television in the doctor's office. No real takeaway - that's just my story.

[@bluebellsforever]

The chuggington worldbuilding reminds me of the robots movie. They both have similar looking machinery and scenary.

[@isabellamarty8745]

8:28 I can prove this. One of my Moms friends brought her grandkids over multiple times. One of them I had an especially big bond with. He loved Thomas and I often watched with him. He played with toys unrelated to Thomas and often said, “It’s Thomas! Hello, Thomas” something the narrators sometimes said as I can remember. I saw something special about him. He knew his ABCS and some numbers by three or four and had even started simple addition problems. At the time he didn’t have autism but he did definitely show signs of it when I researched it later on in life. By the time he was five or six, he was officially diagnosed and his symptoms kept getting more severe. He had struggled to fit in with his classmates. I find it not at all surprising that he’s associated with it.

[@julyleonard]

I believe both Thomas & Chuggington should collaborate, because of a youtuber named Milan Prsa (The MilanToon Channel) & his series, The Railways of Crotoonia.

[@SodorFan15]

I am rather nostalgic of the classic chuggington. I have good memories of both watching the show and playing with the toys. But when I stopped watching the show, it wasn't the similarity's of Thomas actually. It was because I was appreciating the more realistic trains, and wiggling bouncing trains didn't fit the mold. maybe I'll give the show another chance one day, but I'm still catching up on the Cgi Thomas seasons I missed out on. Great video!

[@DangerAngelous]

Thinking about it, Chuggington had more character than Thomas of the same era did, blamed squarely at Hit of course

[@EthanTheEngine7]

underground ernie walks in the room. it puts the beer pint on the table "boy"

[@frogmouth2]

I think a lot of the failures of chuggington and why it didn’t last can be rooted back to poor decisions regarding the toys. Instead of using the same, similar, or at least compatible track joints and couplings to Thomas, they made their wholly own. This meant a lot of kids (me included) got one chugger, realized it was incompatible the pre-existing Thomas collection, never touched another chugger again.

[@garrettsmith2776]

Chuggington Wooden Railway: BRUH

[@frogmouth2]

@@garrettsmith2776 that is a good point. The woods were mostly compatible which makes me think the reason the diecast and battery powered ones weren’t is because of patents. That or it’s cuz they were released a bit later and had some hindsight.

[@theflyingkipper2]

i recall growing up watching chugginton. i remember a lot of s4-5 stuff, but somewhy when i watch the show, only the first 3 seasons have that feeling of "yeah that's the show i remember". also i never in my life watched a single bit of s6

[@FerdinandProductions2021]

18:24-18:32 The whistle that you think was Merlin’s whistle is actually a lower pitch version of Fergus’ whistle.

[@justinplayz9936]

I am so glad you gave Brewster’s Greatest Gift some praise! I absolutely love that episode with its amazing music and moral. It was definitely something the show never had done before, like for example how it had some emotion to it, and boy did they achieve it well. Dare I say it, it might be the best episode of the entire show.

[@gsjohn25]

This was great stuff. Maybe you could also talk about other train shows. How about Underground Ernie next?

[@kyeoconnorred1423]

6:02 No wonder why they changed Wilson’s voice in the classic series aka Season 1-3 while they re-edit the episodes and changed the intro and outro to look like season 6 on bbc

[@JustARegularTank]

It’s funny how wherever a major children train show appears, Tomy is always in the funding section

[@danielferrovias]

40:14 that's a Little Joe electric locomotive. Originally Built by General Electric for THE MILWAULKEE ROAD. They had the same "bulldog nose" styled cab as EMD's E and F units. After some time, Brazilian railroad CPEF (Paulista Railway Company in english) bought some "Little Joes" from General Electric. The model name is GE 2-D+D-2. After the nationalization of São Paulo's railways, they wore FEPASA's "Coca-Cola" (Ferrovia Paulista S/A) paint scheme, where they were red with white stripes on each end. They worked until the privatization of every Brazilian railway, in the 90s, where all of them were sent to sidings, or scrapped.

[@CreativeTankEngine]

I never really cared for Chuggington before, but after seeing this video, it’s making me have second thoughts about my opinion on the show. I had no idea that the characters progressed the way they did and I like the idea. Also, I noticed that they seemed to do things better than what Thomas was and is doing. Quite fascinating and thanks to this video, I found a new respect for this show. I still prefer Thomas, but the fact that a (somewhat) rip-off of Thomas can actually turn into something unique of its own, is really fascinating to me. Nice job!

[@pakschannel4862]

30:26 this got me😂 Great video. Maybe I should rewatch chuggington for nostalgia.

[@mary.of.mares.1470]

And for more prase, Croatian dub of Chuggington is a bop

[@WhiffTheRubbishEngine1869]

Chuggington always felt so hyperactive. I only ever saw a few episodes and got a headache. I definitely will only ever watch Thomas.

[@T_PLAYER]

i completely forgot about this show up until youtube recommended this video to me. i now want to do some investigations on what childhood shows i forgot about with the purpose to rewatch them as an adult

[@Duck_number8]

I used to watch the show when i was a kid and then I went to Thomas and friends

[@gb9727]

Plot twist: Chuggington is the distant future of Thomas

[@TheYellowStryker]

I became a Chuggington fan during the Miller era of Thomas, and when I watched both shows side by side, I bet you can tell which one I enjoyed more. I found Chuggington to be genuinely fun, mainly because of how it did things that Thomas could never do (trains bouncing and jumping off the rails etc). After a while, I went back to Thomas when I rewatched my old S8 and 9 DVDs and remembered the underrated charm the early HiT era had. Nowadays, while I love Thomas a lot, Chuggington does deserve more respect than it gets.

[@BriceInkling138]

I'm quite happy to see that most people in the Thomas fandom have begun to see Chuggington in a slightly better light and that the anti-Chuggington sentiment is starting to slowly die off.

[@fanofeverything30465]

Absolutely

[@Nicecustomer]

Could you do more Chuggington videos,? for example Maybe you could rank all the characters from worst the best if you don’t then that’s totally fine I love your content. and I really enjoyed this video. Keep up the good work.

[@LocalMapGuy]

Why don’t the steam trains in Chuggington have tenders…

[@WaksWorld05]

Given the show is set in the future, and the fact that we see Olwin and Speedy load coal directly into their fireboxes, it’s possible the railway developed a system to power steam engines without tenders or drivers.

[@ARandomThomasFan]

Honestly, this kind of changed my mind about Chuggington. I might check it out at some point

[@tugs_man]

Very well made video. I remember Chuggington more so from Leokimvideo and I did see some episodes on CBeebies back in the day but I didn’t really think much of it. I didn’t hate it but didn’t like it and as of now I don’t have any desire to revisit it anytime soon, it’s just one of those shows that never caught my interest.

[@TankEngineMedia]

I’m surprised that the reason behind chuggington was that the creator wasn’t a fan of Thomas (that was pretty funny) I think I remember watching chuggington when I was little and then later at some point stopped watching it, I heard that a lot of Thomas fans were not the biggest fan of the show but for me it had been a while since I gave my opinion of that show but nowadays after the clips I saw of the show it does look pretty good. Thomas is still going to be my favorite show but maybe one day I might watch some of the episodes of Chuggington (and try to be fair with the show and my thoughts on it).

[@SODORFALLOUTGUY]

0:01 wow I did not know that

[@kadenrobinson7067]

18:24 I'm crying right now because he doesn't realize it's just Fergus's whistle with a lower pitch

[@gothnerd887]

I was recently thinking about something someone said about the artstyle of Chuggington, comparing it with the Bioshock games which caused my brain to go "it's a child friendly Bioshock" but I don't think that's possible😂

[@WaksWorld05]

I believe it was Wak’s World’s Mighty Express video. Oh yeah, MY video!

[@gothnerd887]

​@@WaksWorld05oh, hi. I didn’t think we'd run into each other when not on your channel. (In hindsight it was inevitable)

[@WaksWorld05]

@@gothnerd887 lmao

[@bigtrainguythore]

19:10 🤣 where did that wrecking ball even come from?

[@williampulfer-melville8536]

The Chuggeneers must have been contracted to knock it down So it could've been attached to a crane or something

[@Jetthehawk1994]

Hong Mei wasn't completely reused from Rosie.

[@hughporter1919]

Please make a Fireman Sam Retrospective, asking from Australia. 🇦🇺 I know that your a fan of the show. Loved this Chugginton Retrospective, I reckon you could do more Retrospectives more often.

[@FriedWafflez8208]

The sad thing is that compared to modern ttte , chuggington is now a grounded show about a realistic railway with realistic trains.

[@gothnerd887]

13:27 He also shares his name with a character from Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Hang on Nia from T&F also shares her name with a XC2 character. Hmm🤔

[@Captain_Timezone]

16:06 I don’t remember him having a Scottish accent but maybe there were different language dubs

[@sammyclark4992]

If you're referring to the other English dub, IE the US dub, he had a southern accent there.

[@frigometri257]

Thomas and Chuggington really can coexist. They are really two things with different purposes. The reason I personally stuck with Thomas is mostly because how deep it really goes. The rich lore the historical tie ins and the charm of the model series and the many fans that recreate that charm.

[@SyonTube07]

33:02 Not all of them. They only got rid of Harry and Russ. Russ makes sense because despite his design, he was a bit boring. And Harry, his VA was sick around the time S6 was produced and he passed away in late 2021.

[@nightmangle8228]

I quite like Chuggington because it does stuff that trains don't do and no one complains.

[@gabes3dworldofficial]

Chuggington: we need a better gender balance than thomas Emily: am i a joke to you?! every other female character in the show (which is quite a few): what she said!

[@gabes3dworldofficial]

Also, I know the big world, big adventures females came after, but there were still quite a bit in the classic series, and the model-cgi season (12)

[@oliverthegreatwesternengin6685]

I think the remastered Chuggington was a good idea choice because I like to call that the chuggineer era

[@ryanfuller912]

SAY WHAT?! COLIN MCFARLANE WAS ON CHUGGINGTON AND THOMAS AND FRIENDS?! MIND BLOWN!!!!!

[@german01loco]

41:44 You didn't mention that, but Chuggington has the opposite character amount if that's understandable, I mean Thomas has mostly Steam Engines, with a few Diesels in it and more and more getting introduced later on, while Chuggington has mostly Diesels with a few Steam Engine's in it and introduced later on as well. Isn't that a similarity as well

[@rmgilyard]

Diesels need a lot of attention and depth.

[@fanofeverything30465]

Kinda

[@gothnerd887]

7:31 Is that the train who keeps showing up in video games? Examples: Professor Layton: Diabolical/Pandora's Box and Resident Evil 0

[@GameMaster-sh7tr]

I’m loved this show even as a Thomas fan! Both were train shows so that was perfect for me. I watched both and loved both