Subject:
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Thomas the Tank Engine duplo trains
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.loc.au
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Date:
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Sun, 4 Sep 2005 23:12:05 GMT
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(details)
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I received my Thomas The Thank Engine duplo trains on the weekend. I got the
complete collection:
http://shop.lego.com/leaf.asp?cn=234&d=32&t=9
Currently they are only available in North America, so you may have to set
your shipping address to be USA to see them. But one would think the
enormous popularity of Thomas in the UK and Australia will hopefully see
them released here via Europe S@H or in stores here soon.
Anyhow, having received it, I immediately handed it over as a 3rd birthday
present for my nephew, who is a huge fan of Thomas the Tank Engine. He was
absolutely thrilled with it and played with nothing else all weekend. He
even took one loco to bed with him.
There are 4 sets available, each with a different "character" loco from the
Thomas series. Only the largest set has Thomas himself and that is the only
set with enough track to make a circuit. The other 3 sets have the James,
Percy and Toby locos (for those of you who speak fluent Thomas). The other 3
sets just have a couple of pieces of track (one has a set of points). I
bought all the sets (which is presumably what Lego want to force you to do).
It's standard Duplo train track, so will work with any other Duplo trains
you have. Each loco has 4 parts. The bottom plate with the wheels (bogey?),
the front face piece, and then two pieces (vertically) which make a box that
sit at the back of the loco. There is a 2x2 stud area inside the bottom of
the box so you can put a duplo minifig or a piece of cargo inside). One of
the locos James has a tender (a shorter bogey and the 2 piece box). Thomas
has a wagon (standard bogey and two box bottoms for carrying cargo). There
is an overhead coal loader (coal being a popular cargo in the Island of
Sodor), a station, a signal box, and a water tank. All the rolling stock has
the usual connectors so you can join everything together into one long train
(which seemed the popular thing to do). There were no minifigs with these
sets, which surprised me as there are people in the books and TV shows etc
(the unnamed drivers and the all-powerful fat controller being the
regulars). Still if the initial release is successful, I bet there are more
sets on the drawingboard. There are dozens of named character trains (and
buses and cranes and ...) in the books, so Lego could presumably put out a
set around each of them.
While the prices seemed a bit steep for what you get (probably the licensing
fees don't help), it's certainly a quality product, and will make you very
popular with any small Thomas fans in your life. If Lego Australia has any
sense (usually debatable), these products will be in retail stores for
Christmas, as I bet they would sell like hotcakes.
Kerry
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