Video game mods can be divided into two distinct categories. The first are those that add new features and quality of life additions to the game. These include new items, visual upgrades, and perhaps even more things to do. All of these are meant to improve the game. Then there are mods that add things to the game just for laughs.
The most popular mod from the second category is probably the one that adds Thomas the Tank Engine to a game. We've seen Thomas traded for dragons in Skyrim, Mr. X in Resident Evil 2 and even the Automatrons in Fallout 4. We have one person to thank for this: Kevin “Trainwiz” Brock, the modder who started this trend. However, Trainwiz recently claimed that starting this trend came with some legal backlash.
Thomas The Tank Engine Mod Creator says Mattel has it for him
Trainwiz has once again modded the beloved cartoon children's train, this time to replace Cliff Racers in Morrowind (thanks, PC Gamer). However, he says he has not learned his lesson despite all the legal threats. “I'm incapable of learning whenever it involves companies, because I fundamentally don't see toy company CEOs or media CEOs as people,” says Trainwiz on Bluesky.
He elaborated on the mod's Nexus Mods page, “I sometimes feel the need to milk a certain joke to 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 sent my way. This is because I have a problem with authority, especially authority that stems from intimidation.”
www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mo… I made a mod that replaces cliffracers with Thomas the Tank Engine. I'm incapable of learning lessons whenever it involves corporations, because I fundamentally don't see toy company CEOs or media CEOs as people. #morrowind #thomasthetankengine
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— Trainwiz (@trainwiz.bsky.social) November 25, 2025 at 02.22
Mattel owns the Thoma IP, and given that it's a lovable children's cartoon, it probably has a problem with the tank engine spitting fire, chasing you down dark corridors, and even brutally murdering you. It seems Trainwiz has been dealing with the fallout for a while, saying in a 2019 interview that Mattel has been after him for a while.
That obviously hasn't stopped the modder, as he's added Thomas to many games since then. “I actually made this one years ago but never released it, but then I realized I don't really care anymore,” he added.
- Released
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November 11, 2011
- ESRB
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M for adults 17+ due to blood and gore, intense violence, sexual themes, use of alcohol
- Developer
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Bethesda Game Studios
- Publisher
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Bethesda Softworks
