Thomas the Tank Engine (seasons 1-11, 17-24)

Thomas the Tank Engine is the main titular character of the Thomas & Friends franchise. He's a little blue engine who works on the North Western Railway. He originally worked as the station pilot at the Big Station but longed to leave his yard to go out and see the world. After helping to rescue James from a nasty accident, Thomas was rewarded with two new coaches, Annie and Clarabel, and was given the responsibility of running the Ffarquhar Branch Line, where he works to this day.

Why He Rocks

 * 1) He's a good friend to all engines and a popular one of the Fat Controller's Railway. Sure, he may be cheeky yet he can still be a good pal since he's always the optimistic, idealistic, and altruistic engine who has a heart of gold. He also does his best helping his friends and those he cares about.
 * 2) *To add more fuel, Thomas does show to look out for younger engines. This is particularly evident in later episodes, where he is more experienced so is often charged with helping newer engines out. So you could say he's like a big-brother.
 * 3) He lives to be a really useful and in a good way wants to let the other engines know to do the same. So you could say that he does his job playing his part well.
 * 4) While he might drive others away, Thomas is very good at luring back friends if the situation demand it.
 * 5) Thomas became less arrogant and self-absorbed which is a good character development which is notable in season 2 and in season 3. Even he was shown to be less arrogant and rude compared to his incarnation from the original books.
 * 6) Spawned various memes like Thomas O-Face, appearances in various mods like Skyrim, "It was time for Thomas to leave, He had seen everything", etc. Also some clever comedy as well.
 * 7) What also make's him feel like a likable character is you could even relate to him too. (Aside from his first feature film)
 * 8) Thomas is shown to be brave as well like when Hector found out the hard way that you should never frighten Rosie in front of Thomas.
 * 9) Thomas himself as well as the rest of the cast from the franchise do a good job at teaching kids (and even adults) life lessons such as social and emotional skills. In fact, even Autistic children can learn from Thomas as well as the rest of the gang.
 * 10) In some cases, Thomas has demonstrated a perspective of seeing some suspicious moments going on such as the Tiger Hunters' hidden cage, Diesel 10's plans to take over the railway of steam engines with his fellow diesels and Baz and Bernie's whispering.
 * 11) In the Andrew Brenner era of Thomas & Friends, he alongside those who got flanderized during the Miller era redeemed themselves.
 * 12) Thomas contributed in The Official BBC Children In Need program such as The Official BBC Children in Need Medley from 2009 and Thomas also got his own video on 2018.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) As mentioned before, he was flanderized in the Miller era.
 * 2) He did teased before such as teasing on Gordon.
 * 3) His major character flaw is that he's really impatient.
 * 4) On some occasions, he does have pride and will sometimes take wrong advice at the wrong time - such as from Sailor John or Ace, as well as refusing help even when he needs it.
 * 5) Has a tendency to daydream.
 * 6) In Too Loud, Thomas!, he sucks as singing.
 * 7) He got very little screen-time in his first feature film: Thomas and the Magic Railroad.

Trivia

 * Thomas was the first character in the Railway Series to have a number. According to Brian Sibley in Thomas The Tank Engine Man, Awdry used the number one because it was the easiest to draw.
 * Thomas was the first character introduced in the television series.
 * From the first to twelfth series during the model era, Thomas had three different facial expressions: furious, frustrated and jovial; that were not used on-screen. His unused second series jovial face mask, however, was designed in The Great Festival Adventure game, where Thomas was teasing Gordon about being on the turntable.
 * Also in the tenth series episode, Topped Off Thomas, his unused third series enraged face was used where Thomas was arguing with Spencer about going or not going faster than the wind and later challenging him to a race to Kellsthorpe Road.
 * Sometime before or during the production of the fourth series, Thomas had an elderly face mask, created by model maker Jeremy King, which was originally made as a joke to David Mitton during the filming of Thomas and the Magic Railroad.
 * In the American and Finnish cast, Thomas is the only character voiced by Joseph May and Juha Varis in the series.
 * Thomas' LBSC number, 70, was actually carried by a real LB&SCR locomotive, an A1 named "Poplar" currently preserved by the Kent & East Sussex Railway. The number also represents the top speed of his basis and the 70th anniversary of the Railway Series. All the actual E2s, however, were only numbered from 100 to 109.
 * According to Sir Topham Hatt on the 2001 version of the official website, Thomas was given his name by the engine workshop which built him.
 * Thomas is one of three characters to have a speaking role in every series and special, the other two being Henry and James.
 * Following Mr Conductor in Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Thomas became the second character to narrate in first-person.
 * In Calling All Engines!, Thomas sleep-whistles. This is apparently the steam engine version of snoring, though instead typical snoring sounds, Thomas makes warbling whistles after pausing before the next toot. This was only mentioned in Calling All Engines as it might be because his crew never shut off his steam properly.
 * He has the most nicknames of any character, with nineteen in total.
 * He is the first Sudrian engine with a separate driver in international locations.
 * He is the only vehicle character with headwear (a nightcap in the series 9-12 closing segments, a party hat in the ninth series episode Thomas' Milkshake Muddle, an aviator pilot hat in the tenth series episode Sticky Toffee Thomas and a top hat in the same episode and the eleventh series episode Smoke and Mirrors (if one were to also count The Fat Controller's top hat in Topped Off Thomas), not counting Whiff's glasses or Darcy's visor (or the Santa caps on all the vehicles in the early Christmas episodes).
 * Thomas is the first character in the show to have lost his voice onscreen with the twenty-third series episode, Too Loud, Thomas!. With this, he is the third character on the show with a speech impediment (albeit temporarily) after Fergus and Theo.
 * Thomas is the only original member of the current Steam Team not to have handrails across his boiler or side tanks.
 * To celebrate Easter in 2017, a giant 140kg chocolate sculpture of Thomas was displayed at Kings Cross Station. Made out of real Belgian chocolate, the display piece was sculpted in two-hundred-fifty hours by three master chocolatiers and was surrounded by TrackMaster engines running around. An actor dressed as Sir Topham Hatt was on hand to hand out easter eggs.
 * Thomas was one of 52o engines featured on a poster for the NWR. The other was Gordon.