My only regret about becoming a Fisher-Price play ambassador is that we couldn’t milk their relationship with Thomas & Friends when my Thomas-obsessed boy was a toddler. Thomas the Tank Engine was Tristan’s first obsession. Oh the hours we spent building Thomas tracks, pushing Thomas trains, watching Thomas DVDs and reading Thomas books. Simon was not at all interested in Thomas (he was a Wiggles man) and while Lucas is fond of the train tracks and play sets, I wouldn’t say he is anywhere near as fixated as Tristan was.
I still have a soft spot for the querulous little blue engine and his colourful friends, though. And I have to tell you that Lucas was hopping-up-and-down excited when he saw the Thomas & Friends Take-n-Play Thomas’ Adventure Castle track set and the Thomas & Friends TrackMaster Castle Quest Set come out of a box from our friends at Fisher-Price recently. I always liked the Take-n-Play metal die cast trains when Tristan was wee – the wooden engines were a little too precious (read: expensive as well as well-loved) to bring out of the house, but we ported various bits of our collection of metal engines everywhere. The Adventure Castle set is nice because it folds up to easily bring it with you on a playdate, or even to move it from room to room. (Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a play set spread out on the bathroom floor so you could keep an eye on your toddler while you took a shower? *raises hand*)
It’s the TrackMaster Castle Quest Set that really won us over, though! From the Fisher-Price website:
Can your little engineer help him navigate the crumbling castle grounds and emerge with the prize? Use the crane to swing the missing track in place so Thomas can continue on his journey as walls collapse around him. He needs to chuff through the castle before the gate drops down, then descend into the abandoned mine and escape with the crown! With excitement around every turn, the TrackMasterâ„¢ Quest for the Crown Set provides endless entertainment for your little engineer!
The TrackMaster Castle Quest Set is based on the new forthcoming Thomas & Friends DVD, King of the Railway, to be released on September 24. You can check out the movie trailer, or if you’re quick, you can collect one of the five family passes I’ve got for the “blue carpet” premier of King of the Railway at the South Keys theatre this Saturday September 21 at 10:30 am! Interested? Visit the Postcards from the Mothership facebook page and leave a comment on the Thomas & Friends King of the Railway post I put up earlier today. First five families to claim a pass will win!
I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for Thomas and Friends, maybe despite and maybe because of the way they got under my skin and grated on my nerves through sheer endless repetition when my toddler was most obsessed with them, and we’ll probably always a spot in the cupboard where we’ll keep those trains and tracks long after the boys have grown. There are some things worth holding on to! 😉
