'Mattel Is Constantly Out to Kill Me' — Creator of Original Thomas the Tank Engine Mod for Skyrim Puts Thomas in Morrowind in Defiance of 'Legal Threats'

The creator of the archetypal Thomas the Tank Engine mod for Skyrim has present enactment Thomas successful Morrowind, seemingly successful defiance of ineligible unit from Mattel.

Really Useful Cliffracers, a precocious released mod for Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, replaces cliff racers (flying creatures recovered successful Vvardenfell) with Thomas the Tank Engine. It’s the enactment of modding superstar ‪Trainwiz‬, who created the infamous 2013 Thomas the Tank Engine mod for Skyrim that spawned a meme that endures to this day.

Recent comments from ‪Trainwiz‬ some connected Nexus Mods and societal media suggest that Thomas the Tank Engine proprietor Mattel has applied ineligible pressure, but Trainwiz‬ has modded Thomas into Morrowind anyway.

Really Useful Cliffracers puts Thomas the Tank Engine successful Morrowind.

“I made a mod that replaces cliffracers with Thomas the Tank Engine,” ‪Trainwiz‬ wrote connected the Nexus Mods leafage for Really Useful Cliffracers. “I americium incapable of learning lessons whenever it involves corporations, due to the fact that I fundamentally bash not presumption artifact institution CEOs oregon media CEOs arsenic people.”

‪Trainwiz‬ continued:

“In betwixt moving connected my crippled and dying of assorted accidental injuries, I sometimes consciousness similar I request to beverage a peculiar gag until its inevitable demise. I volition bash this nary substance however galore ineligible threats, existent threats, achromatic vans with the Mattel logo connected them, oregon severed Barbie heads are mailed to me.

“This is due to the fact that I person issues with authority, peculiarly authorization derived from intimidation. I kicked a batch of bullies successful the nuts erstwhile I was a kid.”

‪Trainwiz‬’s BlueSky bio besides contains a connection connected this issue:

Modder, crippled developer. Made that horrible, horrible mod that replaces dragons with Thomas the Tank Engine. Personally wielded the javelin that killed god. Mattel is perpetually retired to termination me.

But wherefore merchandise Really Useful Cliffracers now? Also from its Nexus Mods page, ‪Trainwiz‬ explained: “I really made this years agone but ne'er released it, but past I realized that I don't peculiarly attraction anymore.”

Reading betwixt the lines, ‪Trainwiz‬ is saying Mattel’s lawyers person taken contented with his Thomas the Tank Engine mods implicit the years, though we don't cognize however precocious and successful what form. What is wide is that Bethesda has fixed Trainwiz its seal of approval. It adjacent published an interrogation with him backmost successful 2016, shining a airy connected the locomotion-related mods helium had created for the developer’s games.

‪Trainwiz was aboriginal interviewed by The Face, successful 2019. “To beryllium honest, the full happening was spontaneous,” helium said of the instauration of his archetypal Skyrim mod. ​“A person of excavation gave maine immoderate Thomas models helium had ripped from a crappy iPhone crippled and asked maine what I could bash with them, truthful I spent fractional an hr replacing dragons. I work the books arsenic a kid, but hadn’t truly adjacent thought astir the full happening successful years. It was conscionable ​’what would beryllium the funniest happening astatine the time?’.”

In that interview, helium besides touched connected imaginable ineligible enactment arsenic a effect of his work. ​“I got successful truthful overmuch trouble,” helium revealed. “Mattel beauteous overmuch privation maine dormant astatine this constituent — it’s the crushed wherefore the Fallout 4 mod can’t beryllium recovered connected immoderate mean website.”

In the aforesaid interview, The Face said Mattel had “unleashed its lawyers” pursuing circulation of ‪Trainwiz’s Skyrim mod connected YouTube. ​“It was immoderate intermediary instrumentality steadfast based retired of Macedonia, saying however I diminished the marque of Thomas by showing him blowing up (nothing astir him violently murdering people),” ‪Trainwiz said. “They issued takedown notices connected the videos for it. The archetypal clip it got taken down. The 2nd clip YouTube told them it was covered nether parody law, with nary prompting from me. So that was nice.”

For now, Trainwiz's Thomas the Tank Engine mod for Skyrim and present Morrowind stay online, and the scourge of 1 of gaming's astir celebrated memes continues.

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Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].