me train-ifying my OFF ocs wasnt a joke lol. so heres one of my OFF ocs but in thomas
very normal middle aged man who definitely doesnt lead a cult/isnt trying to find a way to kill lady to gain her godlike powers, hes just a regular driver :)
I'VE MADE A UQUIZ WHERE YOU COULD SEE WHICH CASA TIDMOUTH CHARACTER YOU ARE
it's been in development since two months ago. 12 questions, none of them are romance-related however you might sense that it gets funnier the longer it goes. do share your results because I'm curious
(This one goes out to the anon in my askbox who requested Hank for the bingo meme. I'll do you one better <;3)
So to preface this I think some context is required. Iâll be brief.
When I started this train misadventure with @greatwesternway, I personally had no plans to watch beyond Season 6, which was the last season that I remembered watching as a child and so the last season I had any personal attachment to. Once that had been done, however, and I still wanted more trains, I skipped directly to season 17 (to see Duck) and then proceeded to watch the rest of the CGI (backtracking to season 13) and then all the movies and specials.
This watch order left a gap, Seasons 7-12. I was not looking forward to watching Seasons 7-12. I had no special memories associated with them, and knew from prior research that the characterization and writing was⌠shall we say, less than stellar. I also knew that these seasons added many one-off characters that the CGI would not end up carrying over, and which I had basically zero interest in. Who cares about Flora the steam tram? Not me, certainly.
Imagine my surprise, then, when Season 12 (of Steady Eddie infamy) delivered perhaps my favorite one-off character of the entire show, and a pretty good all-around episode in general.
Letâs talk about Hank and his episode, Heave Ho, Thomas.
Despite appearing in only one episode, we know a lot about Hankâs character. We know that heâs big, strong, gregarious, friendly, quick to compliment others, andâ perhaps most importantlyâ American!
Yes, the engine whose color scheme is red, white, and blue and who has a Texan accent (which Michael Angelis is attempting so, so bravely) is American. Shocker!
Iâm pointing this out primarily because itâs interesting on its own: the show never directly states that he is from America, but itâs made very clear to the audience that that is the case.
There are many American engines on Sodor (Rosie, Caitlin, Connor, Porter, Timothy, Victor) but Hank is the only one (aside from Victor, who I would consider a special case) who is shown to be Culturally American. Most of these other engines are given British (or in the case of Caitlin and Connor, Irish for some reason) accents and their status as transplants isnât really commented on in the canon.
Iâm not bringing this up in relation to Hank because I have a problem with this from a technical perspective, but because Hank being American isâ I would argueâ actually the crux of the whole episode and what makes it work.
(Hank actually gets a model face as opposed to a CGI one for this shot! This episode might have been planned for before the decision to switch to CGI faces had been finalized.)
The episode proper starts with Hank arriving on Sodor. Thomas and Percy are both excited to meet this new special and strong engine, but Thomas expresses some doubt that he could be stronger than any of the engines on Sodor. Already weâre seeing some hometown pride from Thomas, indicating both that Hank is an outsider and that wherever heâs from, Thomas thinks Sodor is better. Sir Topham Hatt gives Thomas his 3 strikes jobs for the day, which he instructs Thomas to do while showing Hank around the island.
Hank arrives and immediately sets Thomas off by calling him âone of the finest little engines [heâs] ever seenâ. Thomas, being as he is, takes offense at being called âlittleâ, disregarding of course that to Hank, the big fuckoff PRR K4 Pacific, every engine on Sodor is little. And of course, Hank doesnât mean âlittleâ as an insult either. He means⌠cute! But Thomas, being as he is, gets buttmad about it.
Hank sees the load of freight cars Thomas is set to haul to the factory and offers, quite magnanimously, to take them instead, setting Thomas off even more. And perhaps Hank is underestimating Thomas here, but on the other hand, to Hank it would be like offering to carry a childâs backpack. The narration even tells us that Hank is merely trying to be helpful. Heâs got that Southern Hospitality thing goinâ on!
As these seasons adhere to a specific formula it doesnât take a genius to see where this episode is going. Thomas doesnât exchange his current train for the next as he was instructed and instead tries to do all of them together as Hank watches, offering each time to pull the train instead and getting turned down. Part of that aforementioned Southern Hospitality, though, is taking people at their word, and so Thomas struggles on in a valiant attempt to win the Cutting Off Your Nose To Spite Your Face Award.
(Thomas, all out of Puff and Pull.)
Itâs here that gets called "Handsome Hank" in the episode by the narrator in passing. This is fun, because I love when one of the stereotypes Americans are given outside this country is that they're attractive. I suspect this comes from our only cultural export being film for 100 years, and so the impression that people who don't live here got was that Americans all look like movie stars.
Hank being called this is interesting though, in that sense, it characterizes him as American again without outright stating the fact, but it's also interesting because 'handsome' is not an adjective that gets ascribed to engines in canon. For this reason, I suspect it is a title in the vein of "Duck The Great Western Engine" or "James the Red Engine". It's a name given by humans to the engines as a form of address.
Because if it isn't... Well, how-dy Hank! Thomas (or the Narrator at least) thinks you look handsome! Add that to the list of things Thomas just can't stand about this guy! He swanks in here, disrespects Thomas, belittles him, and has the gall to look good while doing it. What a Hospitable asshole!
(Handsome Hank! I absolutely love these pieces of concept art and I'm so glad we have them.)
Hank is so Hospitable in fact, that when Thomas is completely out of steam and canât whistle at the stations because of the heavy train, Hank announces in front of God and everybody that because Thomas is out of puff: he, Hank, will whistle for him! To Hank, this is just common courtesy. If he canât pull the train, the very least he can do is whistle for his new friend.
Of course, this is about the worst thing you could say in front of an engine like Thomas. Thomas, who thinks everything is a competition, every offhand comment a slight against him personally, and every action he canât do a knock against his own Usefulness. Itâs not his fault, really. When you come up on a British railway with engines like Gordon and James, you expect to be belittled and patronized. But Hank isnât being passive-aggressive here, heâs just being American!
Well of course, as it goes with these seasons, Thomas cracks a cylinder and learns a lesson about asking for help or somesuch, Hank has a party thrown for him and is promptly forgotten about for the rest of time forever, The End. Itâs not a very satisfying conclusion or a particularly good episode when taken at face value, but I think it works if you look at it as a Cultural Differences sort of episode, where the sensibilities of two different railways come into contact and are, at least initially, at odds with each other.
And actually, doing some research for this episode, I found out that Heave Ho, Thomas was never shown in Japan on tv or released for home media. Maybe they thought an episode like this wouldnât translate well for a Japanese audience? Interesting, either way!
"Here we go," Oliver muttered, plucking the cigarette out of his mouth too late. "'Oliver' works just fine, Duck."
"I should think if it did, we wouldn't be having this conversation again," Duck bit back, striding into Oliver's space. "I don't know what kind of habits you picked up on that--" his eyes flicked down to the still-smouldering cigarette in Oliver's hand. "--Other Railway, but you are Great Western, and when you're on my branch line, I expect you to act like it."
"Yes, Sir," Oliver said, smile never leaving his face.
tagging: @zoriizons, @leesbian42, @iisaabelaa, @rosiedevil, @cyb3rpeach, @encantolover, @justanisabelakinnie, and honestly anybody else who wants to join, i donât know that many people unfortunately
@wysteriaisapenguin @sodorz @gall0pingsausage @theflyingkipper @trainpalsforthawin @new-york-central-guy @jazztalons @beumdi @monstroso @unchainedtiger and people who want to do this. go ham
Commission for @moominmamma-time of their OC Teddy, the super cute, super strong OQ-Class engine! Thank you again, loved drawing this adorable little guy! :]
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