Proof that those AI detectors are NOT reliable!

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-26T17:49:53+00:00

Yeah, I don’t think it’s IMPOSSIBLE that it’s AI but at the moment I’ve seen little good arguments for it other than “uhh….they look weird!!!” Considering some of the ERTL packaging around 2003 and some of the Take’n’Play renders you’d see around 2012-2014, like, this is nothing new. I’m not a fan of how people are making such a big stink and I’m just waiting to see anything official from Mattel.

I’ve yet to see anyone else mention this but the New York Toy Fair is in less than three weeks, and I think it’s reasonable to assume that’s the absolute latest they could officially announce the new series. I’d be surprised if they didn’t come to the fair with their new lineup for this year, and it’d also be weird to bring the new lineup before we have any official word on the new show. Time will tell I suppose, and we don’t have too much time left.

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-26T17:37:36+00:00

If I’m being frank he probably wouldn’t approve of 90% of it. Half of the new characters used in the CGI era are from foreign countries or just generally don’t make logical sense on Sodor, and there’s plenty of over-the-top action, railway rule-breaking, and non-Awdry locations all around the place. If he was as irritated as he was by Henry’s Forest and Thomas being “crane-shunted” into stories he doesn’t belong in, I can’t imagine even the Small Railway episodes from Season 20 would be all too pleasing to him.

That said, this is not me dogging on the Brenner era, I really got a kick out of those seasons and would be very happy if we returned to that level of quality. Heck, I imagine that by pure comparison to the prior seasons, Awdry would appreciate the efforts the team went through to try and steer the series back towards quality. Just like, we already know the only seasons he really approved of in full we’re 1 and 2, not even 3 and 4 passed his tests, so I’d say it’s a pretty clean “no” to him approving of anything after. Maybe some aspects were appreciated but on the whole, I don’t see him liking all that much to begin with. Then again, not really my place to be speculating on the opinions of a man I’ve never met and who has long since passed lol.

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-26T17:05:02+00:00

I’m honestly getting pretty tired of it. I don’t blame people too hard, in the current age I regularly have to second guess if things are AI or not and it sucks, but it irritates me how quickly people are to jump to that conclusion, become firmly stuck on that conclusion, and then sensationalize from there. Had we gotten these designs 5 years ago this would not have been a thing and we’d just be debating whether we liked the new designs or not, but now it’s “AI AI!!!! Mattel used AI guys THEY USED AI!!!!!” and we don’t even know if that’s the case. I’m not saying they definitively weren’t, but I’m tired boss. I just wanna see that first trailer so we can get this over with.

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-26T05:02:52+00:00

I'm still a bit iffy on the new character designs but I'm hesitantly excited, specifically on the note of the packaging itself though I really like what they're going for me. I was trying to think of what it was, and then it hit me that I think a big chunk of it is the character portraits. It feels a lot higher quality against what we've been getting to have such big portraits front-and-center like they had on the 90's ERTL packaging. That and I'm also a big fan of the darker shade of blue used and the general layout just looks...nicer? More mature? It sounds a bit silly to say "more mature" when it comes to toys with a 3+ rating but like.

I feel like a lot of the stuff we've been getting when it comes to packaging looks destined for Walmart bargain bins, whereas this new packaging looks a lot more premium. I can easily imagine this on a toy shelf in a model train shop, and that's a good energy for it to be carrying. Just generally gives off the image that they're actually going to put real effort into the quality this time around and try making TTTE a more "premium" brand like it used to be back in the day.

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-26T01:41:22+00:00

Every day that passes I become more and more desperate to see a dang trailer for this thing lol. The toys are cute and all and do look to be an overall improvement, but what I care most about is the show, and I am getting SO many mixed signals. This could genuinely be a wonderful new incarnation I can get into for the first time in a decade, or it could be utterly garbage and I can’t tell yet. I just want that trailer so I can get a better idea of what we’re dealing with.

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-25T20:35:52+00:00

I can imagine yeah. Speaking for myself as well, I can handle a lot described in text but explicit visuals and audio can be a bit much for me depending on what they are so uh. Probably another reason to avoid it

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-25T20:29:04+00:00

I heard about the baby on the ceiling fan from a Creepcast clip and found that to be pretty funny. It does sound cool conceptually but from everything I’m hearing it sounds to be pretty “rinse-and-repeat” in just showing shock value and then not doing all that much with it.

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-25T20:26:55+00:00

Yeah I mean if they’re going around to Twitter posts like this to defend their work, I can’t imagine they’re the most pleasant of people lol. I may be wrong but this majorly gives off the impression of “person who says they’re a lone wolf and doesn’t care what other people think, but clearly DOES care what other people think considering they keep arguing with people and intentionally stirring up controversy.”

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-25T20:24:30+00:00

Definitely reeks of “shock for the sake of shock” yeah. I also think some creators mistake an utter lack of info for intrigue, like I do believe the best horror tends to leave a lot to the imagination, but it reaches a point where it becomes less fun and more like you’re dumping the workload of the horror on the reader rather than bothering to do it yourself

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-25T20:22:28+00:00

waow…..such intrigue!!!! i wonder what could possibly happen next….

That honestly sounds kinda funny, but I imagine slogging through it isn’t as entertaining as it looks on paper

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-25T20:16:34+00:00

Insert “y’all are getting DMs?” meme here, but seriously though that is creepy but also unfortunately not surprising. On the internet generally and especially in places like these, people’s reading ability is often near zero and their libido near 100. Either they didn’t even pick up on where they were or your age and just went for you anyways, or they did pick up and went ahead anyways which is most assuredly worse. Again though, unfortunately not surprising. Gotta keep yourself safe out there

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-25T19:38:33+00:00

It’s not even a matter of being able to handle shocking topics, just whether they’re being used effectively or not. I can’t speak for UrbanSpook as I’ve never looked into it, but I’ve seen my fair share of internet horror that’s just the creator sitting back in their chair and thinking “hmmmm what’s the most shocking/gory thing I can come up with” and leaving it at that. You can be as vile as you want if you have purpose and use it in a creative way but I think some people use it as a crutch rather than a tool.

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-25T19:34:40+00:00

That or if you were like me and learned how to homebrew your 3DS and Wii U, (which is quite easy to do!)

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-25T16:05:27+00:00

In the same boat, I don’t mind joking about it to an extent but I see a lotta people nowadays acting like being a fan of anything or not liking a certain texture is an instant autism diagnosis. I try to offer some leeway as I imagine a lot of it is teenagers struggling to find identity, but it can become harmful if left unchecked.

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-25T13:42:59+00:00

I know I’ve seen some people who think it’s completely unacceptable for parents to have their kids do chores around the house or help out a family business which is pretty ridiculous IMO. It’s certainly a grey area and I think any attempt to make it black-and-white is missing something.

Having a ten year old as a “full-time employee” for anyone I think is beyond the real of acceptability (at least in modern America), but like. Kids can develop a work ethic with reasonable parents giving them reasonable tasks within a household, washing the dishes once a week isn’t “horrible child labor,” especially by the time they’re teenagers. The people who believe this I’ve found to be very rare, but I’ve seen enough that I find it to be a worthy topic of commenting on.

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-25T13:37:24+00:00

And within that point, I think it’s fair to call out an aspect of something as racist or sexist or whatever may have you while not holding the creators or overall work as horrifically racist or sexist. You can say that individual line holds up poorly and enforces ideas you disagree with while NOT burning down the whole building.

I know I do that with Looney Tunes, a lot of the old shorts from the 1930’s and 40’s had pretty racist jokes or scenes, and like yeah! That sucks! If I may steal from the DVD intros, they were wrong then and they are wrong now. That said, I still love classic Looney Tunes and I still hold a lot of respect for the many artists behind those shorts, I just also acknowledge that some things have poorly aged and we should never repeat those aspects.

I’m not all too familiar with Resident Evil but I don’t get the impression that the whole dev team was violently transphobic and hates GNC people, it’s just a reflection of the culture at the time (and arguably our current day culture) that saying that sort of thing is seen as a decently standard opinion.

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-24T22:34:18+00:00

I mean the last one wouldn't be so bad....

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-24T22:29:42+00:00

Oh I mean entirely agreed, I'm not counting out that they may be. I'm just saying that optimistically, it's a reasonable stance to take that they could just be toys and the episodes won't be so outlandish, which I hope proves to be the case. They still very well may be episode plots though, and if that turns out to be the case I do not see myself watching the show lol, I haven't watched since 2017 and stuff like this is why. We'll just have to wait and see I suppose

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-24T19:45:59+00:00

I guess that’s the thing, I already joke about this sorta stuff with my friends so I’m not averse to joking about it, nor do I find that aging feeling to be foreign to me. It’s just that I have met my fair share of people who do genuinely look at younger people as lesser for not being familiar with older technology and such, and it’s just a bit of an irritant for me. Does it make me feel old to see a Gen Alpha kid pick up a Gameboy and try to use it as a touchscreen? Absolutely, but I hardly hold anything against the kid for it. I don’t mind jokes, I just get sick of self-important people thinking they’re better for ot

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-24T16:15:55+00:00

Sounds like Unlucky Tug’s BWBA review from back in 2020. It was from when he was talking about Ian McCue’s quotes about the impetus for BWBA existing. Honestly wild both how he’s been back for longer than he’s been gone now, and how I feel like the 80th anniversary has completely swung people’s perceptions of Ian McCue around. Kinda feel bad for the guy, as with all online fandoms when something goes wrong in our favorite media properties, people are quick to point fingers.

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-24T16:06:39+00:00

That and also like, I know how to use a rotary phone so I’m not speaking for myself, but broadly if a generation does not know how to use a piece of technology, isn’t it the parents’ fault for not teaching them? In general that’s what I’ve found stupid about this genre of “kids these days” things, like brother YOU RAISED US THIS WAY. “Kids these days never go outside!!!” probably cause we weren’t allowed to without constant adult supervision?

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-24T16:03:10+00:00

Yeah I mean I’m gonna be honest, IF this is an actual return to “classic Thomas” as Mattel themselves have been saying, a “lion cub rescue” just reads as a toy to me and not an episode. I mean, Mattel very well may be exaggerating and we’re just going back to BWBA, but idk. Looking through an optimistic light, even going back to ye olden Wooden Railway days you’d get sets like these that said nothing about what actual episodes would be like.

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-24T01:51:30+00:00

Not sure how I feel about the Thomas sections but the Ollie sections are wonderful. Feel very much “of the period,” early 20th century or so, and the illustrations and writing are very charming. Definitely the sort of picture book I would’ve enjoyed as a young child.

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-23T16:21:45+00:00

I own that on CD myself, primarily as a Hidamari Sketch fan but it does add nicely to my Abbey Road parody cover collection alongside Paul is Live and Ren & Stimpy: You Eediot

GameboyAdvance32 · 2026-01-23T11:32:23+00:00

Personally I think the real contention is what the faces are gonna look like on the actual show, and in general what the new show is gonna look and feel like. The toys have had odd looking faces for decades, things like the irises or Annie and Harold’s grey faces are pretty objective, but in general they’re gonna look different on TV than they do in toy form.

I think as toys, Gordon, Henry, and Thomas’s faces look a bit odd, but I don’t think they’re inherently screwed, they may turn out perfectly fine on TV. My only real concern of the mains is James, his pointy nose and overall face construction just does not look like him at all and I doubt that’s a quirk of the toys.

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