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trains are extremely sexual actually, have you seen couplers????

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Loved your deep-dive recently into Edward being more than just "Engine Obi-Wan Kenobi Oldest-and-Wisest In All The Lands" but I'm intrigued by the concept of the Fandom's original sins

Obviously there's the unwarranted hatred of Emily but I'm curious, as someone who's not been in the loop as long, about what else is there?

That's a good question, I'm not sure how to articulate it... Emily hatred is more of a symptom... Edward mischaracterization is also a product of the Fandom Original Sin but it's about as close as I can get to the source.

It's sort of what Joe was expressing about the ERS earlier this week. It's bad — not because it's badly written or badly conceived, there's actually a ton it does so, so, so, so very well — but fundamentally it does not center the fact that this world was created in an act of imagination and fun. And it does not center the fact that, even by the end of the Wilbert Awdry run, these little railways are all quite explicitly families.

I think part of the problem is that railways by nature, and steam especially, attracts a lot of hidebound traditionalists. So they take that as the raison d'etre for the RWS.

And, look, we know the score. Obviously, the Awdrys do have a lot of traditionalism and good-old-days nostalgia. That's in there, for sure. When I subvert that I know I'm subverting it.

But the stories were begun as an act of love, a parent comforting and amusing their child — and at the end of the day they're about how playing with trains is so, so, so fun and it's about found families bound by love. That's all the bigger thing. That's the root of everything good and vital about the series.

I think "the fall," the original sin, has a lot to do with people who love the stories more about being Right and Correct and Sensible and "Traditional" and Wrongdoers Are Appropriately Punished and Goodness is Rewarded than about that other thing.

The first place you see that sprout is with fanon Edward. Because Edward is the moral center of the RWS and therefore a bit of a cypher that we all project our own values on, it's unavoidable.

But then, from here, you get all the other Terrible and Weirdly Angry takes that are like weeds in the fandom, they're so old that many mistake them for literal canon and — even though there are plenty of people who don't subscribe to them — we can't actually get rid of them, lol. Most of the formative fanworks contain them and even newcomers to the fandom often seem to carry some version of 'em. And that's stuff like, as you say, pervasive Emily hate — Nia and Rebecca hate — Gordon-Henry-James hate — Thomas hate — y'know, I'm seeing a common thread here. Like it's fine to have favorites and unfavorites (Wilbert Awdry himself never seemed wild about Henry and James, alas; it happens) but if your fandom experience is too grounded on how anti-certain-characters or anti-certain-canon-writers you are, I dunno. Take a break.

Tolerance and graciousness are traditional virtues too, y'know?

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This announcement post is not going out six hours late I was awake don't even talk to me.

New episode of Bachmann Roundtable out now! Andrew is murdered live on air and we discuss a lot of really fun announcements, come check it out!

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There are two types of diesels-

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biggest mindfuck is the fact that it can be so so difficult to tell the difference between when it's time for "do it bored/scared/stupid but by jove just do it" and when it's time for "if it sucks hit the bricks"

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update: this is what Bachmann will be like on October 8th 2024

Cross-posting this from a twitter convo I had about Bachmann Duncan. This is what the OO9 Thomas modelling community will be like in 2027.

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Volume 2 Retrospective!

Today on Railway Series Book Club, we finally wrap up Volume 2! About time, right? Come see our full Railway Series rankings thus far!

We have also launched a survey to measure interest in a Book Club patreon, so please give it a look!

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(Original under cut)

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TTTE Sapphic Ships Poll Tournament

Semifinals- Poll 1

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TTTE Sapphic Ships Poll Tournament

Semifinals- Poll 2

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Henrietta Henrietta Henrietta Henrietta Henrietta Henrietta Henrietta Henrietta

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TTTE Sapphic Ships Poll Tournament

First Round (8 polls)

Rules:

All polls will run for a week. This is a single elimination tournament, so all losers are out for good. There are four rounds- the First Round (8 polls), Quarterfinals (4 polls), Semifinals (2 polls), and Finals (1 poll).

Mass voting with getting your fellow peers on board is fine, but please— no bots!

Reblogs/replies with commentary on the respective polls are encouraged and I will reblog/share them as additions whenever I see them unless you explicitly state not to. You can bring up canonical material as well as personal headcanons. You can talk for or against ships, but keep it respectful among the fandom— please don’t insult shippers themselves for their taste or mention particular users that ‘ruined’ a ship.

You can @ me if you have ship propaganda posts so that I can reblog them or come into my asks. Ship art/stamps/fics/etc that aren’t yours should be linked/credited. Don’t worry about saying/sharing too much stuff to me as long as it’s not spamming the exact same thing.

Reblogging my own ship posts is fine but I’m not going to self-reblog them myself during the polls. Don’t ask me for my opinions on them either. I’m going to try to be as neutral as possible for the tournament!

Polls:

Rebecca/Belle vs Emily/Lady

Elizabeth/Madge vs Daisy/Mavis

Caroline/Elizabeth vs Nia/Rebecca

Nia/Kana vs Emily/Molly

Emily/Mavis vs Caitlin/Millie

Emily/Caitlin vs Rosie/Millie

Emily/Rosie vs Brenda/Darcy

Emily/Nia vs Rosie/Mavis

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Railway Series Book Club - Double Header

Time for Trouble! It's been a while since Toby and James' last story together, so how does this one hold up? Hop aboard the express and find out!

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Roast in the Shell

Just posted my first Thomas fanfic, it's silly and hardly groundbreaking, but I'm proud of it and if you like Duck you might enjoy it. c:

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TTTE + Textposts (Part 2)

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Oliver's Reading List for "Ultratrain" Comics

*dusts off the 'ol blog* i think a lot about @mean-scarlet-deceiver's excellent headcanon (from an excellent fic) that Oliver loves comic books. i choose to accept this as reality. but in that case...

i think oliver would be the number one reader of this guy's book every month as soon as he discovers it. he has strong opinions about every story arc and event crossover and retcon. maybe he gets james really into it too since he seems to be an enjoyer of the whole superhero fare too lol

(also, i chose to believe oliver's favorite 'people' heroes are the X-Men. he wouldn't have had the hardest-hitting stuff while he was on the run since that came about in the mid-late 70s, but he would definitely understand to working hard to help people that don't appreciate him or his kind lol)