WRW Review: Sam and the Great Bell Book Pack

THESE ARE SOLEY MY OPINIONS AND ARE NOT INFLUENCED FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FAN BASE

WOODEN RAILWAY REVIEW:

SAM AND THE GREAT BELL BOOK PACK

With the popularity of Logan from 2014, Fisher Price had released another exclusive character for the Thomas and Friends Wooden Railway range. This year we were introduced to Sam, a Virginian Railway Blue Ridge 2-6-6-6 locomotive. In my opinion I think the book is better then what they did with Logan as there was more story in this despite less dialogue. The illustrations though weren't that great in my opinion, here is one of them:

The face is just...blah! It looks like a human head was placed on a locomotive's body. Some designs were out of proportion such as his cab. One page shows him his usual shape as you see on his wooden railway counterpart until the end it had a pointy roof. This is where I think Fisher Price should change the book pack to maybe a DVD pack. With the promos for Logan and Sam that were rendered by Arc Productions for the Wooden Railway website, they made the characters more visually appealing. 

They should consider maybe in future of creating say a short episode, like 'A New Friend on Sodor' and 'A Friendly Farewell', except maybe at a time limit of maybe 3-5 minutes, featuring the exclusive wooden railway character and release as that or keep the book and place the DVD alongside it. As for the Wooden Railway model alongside with it, I think it's a nice design, its face is better in both the CGI promo and the toy then what it was in the book, even though I've said that I liked the face when they first revealed it but after looking at this book, my opinion had changed. The book's face was just out of proportion and just creepy to look at times. I will say I'm glad that Fisher Price didn't overhype Sam as what they did with Logan back in 2014. Logan was placed on the US Thomas and Friends website Engine Depot, before its much needed revamp and people thought it would be a new character for the TV series, as the engine depot mainly shows characters that had appeared in the television series. Even though Sam was on it, at least it wasn't a reveal and was placed on the website after his release. 

Overall I think it's a good release. The book was interesting and it had much more story despite some meh illustrations. Sam doesn't have too much persona in the book but it was expressed in his first promo video 'Welcome to Sodor, Sam!' I think Fisher Price should make a short episode and maybe release it on their own with the wooden railway toy or with the book and toy. The book I think should stay so kids can be exposed into reading though.

Rating: 6.5/10

NWR Editorial: Sam

THESE ARE SOLEY MY OPINIONS AND NOT FROM THE THOMAS & FRIENDS FAN BASE

NWR EDITORIAL:

SAM

Last year, Thomas Wooden Railway had released Logan as a 'exclusive character' for merchandise across the United States. Now in 2015 we will see another one entering in that canon with the newly revealed Sam. To be honest I'm glad that Fisher Price, who run the Thomas toy brand, didn't over hype him like they did with Logan last July by putting him on the official Thomas website claiming he's a 'new friend' so that fans and parents of the brand might mistaken the new character as a TV series one. So well done to them.

I understand that design won't fit the British loading gauge but design shown in the promos like the picture above looks excellent with the detail. I understand that with Logan getting a CGI render and a possibility of a part in the TV series, which I doubt because I think it ruins the uniqueness of him being exclusive. But as Chris Tomson said on his TTTE Wikia blog that if he's to be in the TV series it seems unlikely considering that we have Hiro and Murdoch introduced as the goods engines as his basis the 2-6-6-6 'Virginian Railway Blue Ridge' haul coal trains. But looking at an earlier promo for Sam I notice that the sign on the book cover was promoting a railway show at a museum so it's more likely we'll see him more as a visitor rather the being an engine for the Fat Controller.

Now onto with the face. To be honest, I'm fine with the face. Yeah it looks too real but compare the facial design towards Logan when they've revealed him. I think Logan's face was poorly designed as you can clearly see the likes of Victor and Salty so it's good that we see a proper design rather then a rushed look of a photoshopped face. I more prefer Logan's face made by Arc Productions and who knows we might see Sam's promo video later on in the coming months or the next year maybe.

As of the 'exclusive character' thing made by Fisher Price and Mattel, the latter who owns HIT Entertainment. I'm fine with it all as started with Logan he was a 'one-off' with purpose and I believe that Sam will have purpose as a 'one-off'. Plus children who purchase the set or the book pack can make up there own personalities for either Sam or Logan or react with the book. Nowadays toys are the lifeblood of the show's existence with such brands like Pokemon for example. 

SAM AND THE BIG BELL

WOODEN RAILWAY BOOK WILL BE RELEASED

SOMETIME IN 2015