Hero modder who started the Thomas the Tank Engine meme with Skyrim thumbs his nose at 'legal threats' and 'black vans with the Mattel logo' by modding Thomas into Morrowind: 'I have issues with authority'
For many years now, the children's character Thomas the Tank Engine has been something of a modding phenomenon. You can find Thomas in everything from Hogwarts Legacy to Elden Ring, but it all began with a 2013 Skyrim mod that replaced all dragons with the resplendent blue engine, as well as adding sound effects from the show.
That Skyrim mod was down to game developer and modder Trainwiz (and friends), who notes in his Bluesky bio that "Mattel is out to kill me." This is because toy giant Mattel owns the rights to the Thomas the Tank Engine characters, and doesn't seem to have much of a sense of humour about Thomas mods. Thus, we arrive at a new frontier for Thomas-based heroics.
Trainwiz has popped up with a new mod for Morrowind that "replaces cliff racers with Thomas the Tank Engine." Cliff racers are flying creatures that appear all around the Vvardenfell region of Morrowind, and occasionally swarm the player. The reason that you can now get got by countless flying Thomases? Take it away Trainwiz:
"I am incapable of learning lessons whenever it involves corporations, because I fundamentally do not view toy company CEOs or media CEOs as people."
Expanding on this thought on the Nexusmods page, Trainwiz says "I sometimes feel like I need to milk a particular joke until its inevitable demise. I will do this no matter how many legal threats, actual threats, black vans with the Mattel logo on them, or severed Barbie heads are mailed to me."
So it's probably fair to surmise that Trainwiz has had a few letters from Mattel's lawyers over the years. Trainwiz says "I have issues with authority, particularly authority derived from intimidation," the obvious solution to which is sticking Thomas in every game he can manage.
To surmise even further, it may have been the case that such threats actually did stop this mod from being released for a time, though maybe I'm reading too much into this next statement: "I actually made this years ago but never released it, but then I realized that I don't particularly care anymore."
Brilliantly, the mod comes in two flavours: "One that just replaces [cliff racers], and one that also integrates the mod that makes two spawn for every one you kill."
There's also a feature list that, one suspects, has been written exclusively for people at Mattel to read, before throwing their fists to the sky and shouting "damn you Trainwiiiiiiiz!" Those features in full:
- Satanism
- The death of god
- Cliff racers
- Cliff racers replaced with Thomas the Tank Engine
www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mo...I made a mod that replaces cliffracers with Thomas the Tank Engine. I am incapable of learning lessons whenever it involves corporations, because I fundamentally do not view toy company CEOs or media CEOs as people.#morrowind #thomasthetankengine
— @trainwiz.bsky.social (@trainwiz.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-11-25T17:10:03.153Z
Not all heroes, etcetera etcetera. Trainwiz obviously isn't responsible for every Thomas mod that's followed in his his stylish wake, but this joins a very long list: Thomas has rained fire upon Fallout 4, roared in Monster Hunter World, been Mr. X in Resident Evil 2, and Lady Dimitrescu in Resi Village, replaced Sekiro's giant snake, been summoned into Valheim as a Norse god, cameoed in Kingdom Hearts 3, and now this.
I suspect there's a phalanx of Mattel lawyers out there with eyebrows a-twitchin'. But I kinda think there's only one way this is going. Strike down Trainwiz and his silly Thomas mods, and we may be looking at gaming's very own Streisand effect.