As a political theory student and a lifelong Thomas fan, nothing in the history of the world has been as tailor-made for me as this video😅 Edit: your analysis, despite some problems I have with your characterizations of either ideologies or engines themselves, is quite good, you do generally know what you're talking about. And there are many other dimensions of political you haven't addressed here, so you potentially have a lot to talk about if you were to make a part 2, or even more politically-themed Thomas content.
@@ThomasTheorist The 9 axis political test has: Federal vs Unitary Democratic vs Authoritarian Globalist vs Isolationist Militarist vs Pacifist Security vs Freedom Equality vs Markets Secular vs Religious Progressive vs Traditional Assimilation vs Milticulturalism
Spencer is a monarchist no question I also think Arthur would probably be on the conservative side seeing as how at least in his opening episode he's all about keeping things the same with his spotless record
I honestly find Arthur's claim to his spotless record, quite debatable. If anyone has a spotless record, it's Murdoch. He's never had an accident in the entire series.
Every choice I’ve ever made in my life has led me to a point where I’m watching a vid where we decide what political idealogies talking trains from my childhood hold. No regrets.
My takes on some of the characters: Thomas: Anarcho-Monarchist Edward: Some kind of moderate Conservative Henry: Green Conservatism Gordon: Old school Tory James: Queer Conservative Percy: Labourism Duck: Classical Liberal Donald and Douglas: Old school SNP voter Diesel 10: Classical National Socialist Peter Sam: Libertarian Socialist Toad: Social Democrat Bradford: American Military Industrial Complex
I do consider Edward more left wing socially because of his friendly personallity and welcoming to all sorts of people or trains for that case. Unless you count episodes like Edward Strikes Out or Harvey to the Rescue.
Edward and BoCo were accidently transferred to Guantanamo Bay by Hit and thus were not present for that time as they were busy building a raft to escape.
There are just so many random characters I’d love to see your take on: Stepney, Stafford, Molly, Neville, Smudger, Big Mickey, the logging locos, Paxton, the list is endless…
Stepney would probably be in favour of immigration considering that in the tvs canon he was smuggled by rusty and in IRL and the red canon he was saved by the bluebell railway
I'm not too surprised about Gordon being a Conservative. His self-importance, prejudice towards freight cars, and when he once said that "branch lines are vulgar" serve as a few justifications.
I've been thinking about another politics-related Thomas topic, that is the political leaning of different parts of the Island of Sodor. Here's my take on the whole thing : The Knapford-Tidmouth urban area, Vicarstown and Crovan's Gate, being both significant railway hubs (which in turn involves the widespread presence of rail workers) and Sodor's population population centers, would be left of center. Brendam being an industrial place with Brendam Docks would be as well. Conversely, towns along branchlines or the mainline, such as Elsbridge on Thomas's branch line, Maron on the main line, or any other hill/mountain town on Skarloey railway, would be more conservative. You'd also have Sudrian regionalists left or right here or there. What do you guys think ?
Also, come to think of it, Duke would be an interesting conundrum. He's old like SkaRhen, Toby and Edward, but is also fairly in-your-face about how things should be done "That would never suit His Grace". However, at the same time, he's also a bit laid-back, as he does give Smudger and Falcon those warnings, but also essentially let's fate step in with them. Idk, he'd be quite interesting to see.
I'm pretty sure Duke would be auth-right. He's conservative, and he believes in order and knowing one's place. He's also sort of a nationalist as exemplified by his dislike of Smudger/Stanley (a chaotic American immigrant).
I don’t know what I was expecting going into this, but Duncan being a communist and Peter Sam regularly committing tax evasion isn’t what I was expecting
THIS IS NOT A JOKE THE VALEDICTORIAN FROM MY SCHOOL LAST YEARS TALKS ABOUT THIS VIDEO IN HIS SPEECH. I was watching last year’s graduation ceremony since my was this year and I wanted to get a feel for what to expect. When it got to the valedictorian’s speech he started it off by talking about Thomas and that “if you were wondering what a valedictorian does with his spare time, it’s watch videos about the political ideology of Thomas the tank engine characters”. The speech is in “LHS Class of 2023 Graduation” by LTPSRewind and skip to about 41 minutes in. THIS IS WILD
It’s an interesting video, but I think it’s a bit too from an American perspective considering the characters are British and would be in British not American Politics. A few examples: -Henry: in the UK he wouldn’t be in Healthcare debt as it’s a free at point of use and supported by all mainstream sides -Donald & Douglas: they aren’t immigrants, they’re Scots. It’s like a Texan moving to Virginia. -Thomas and Emily: them being Monarchists is nothing unusual. In the UK the very vast majority either support or don’t mind the Monarchy. Though of course to be fair, there are different types, reasons and extents of support for the Monarchy.
At first, I thought that this was inaccurate since he wasn’t in that story. Then I realized he’d probably be working at a factory during the time that story is taking place. Probably tried leading a workers strike or revolt leading him to get sold cheap to the skarloey railway. Since there’s a time skip between that and when he arrives on the railway, I chalk it up to the revolt he started lasting that long!
I feel like the truck would be anarchist since they love causing mischief and trouble despite railway safety rules. If the trucks are thin, body meant of anarchy in the Thomas universe, I don’t know what is.
Bear - Centrist. If Toby is centrist because he stopped giving a shit years ago, Bear is centrist because he tries, in his own grumpy way, to care about every viewpoint. He listened to Spamcan's (authoritarian right, of course!) slander about the steam engines, but told him where to stick it - but it was obvious he had his own reservations about the Steamies. So, Bear is centrist.
@@americanliberal09 It's more that Toby is liable to say he's a communist to pee Gordon off, and then say he's an arch-conservative to the Twins to troll them. Frankly, Toby has had lost all interest in Steamie politics due to the incompatibility of the opposing views.
Back in the day, a derogatory term for someone who is on the left wing is called a “pinko”. It’s an American political term. I guess some characters like Henry and Emily are considered pinkos by other characters like Gordon or Duck. Also, weren’t the troublesome trucks anarchistic because of their intent to cause chaos with the engines?
@@thecaledoniansleeper2648 i never heard it tbh. If theres a word for thar in america , then theres a word for that in the UK. Dont get so offended lol
That was an interesting video! I could see Thomas as an anarchist and Duncan as a communist is interesting, I would love to see Duncan with a communist hat. I laughed that Henry was a new age hippie and that was interesting even though he loves trees. I would love to see a part two to this.
The main problem with the political compass chart is that it was made by Libertarians to try to persuade people that they liked Libertarian views by presenting the opposite side as authoritarian, where there's a huge area of government regulation but still a clear democracy that isn't really accounted for on the chart. I have often been shown as Libertarian Left whenever I've taken the quiz, but I would not in any way consider myself to be a Libertarian Also, with Henry, he lived in the UK in post World War 2, therefore he would have access to free healthcare. This could still mean that he is more left wing as he is thankful of this fact, but honestly I think it's more likely he'll just take it for granted like a lot of us did until a couple years ago, and so not let it affect his views
@@jackswan3420 The two counters to that are: First, when talking about Henry being left due to health issues, he was talking about the TV Series, where he has MANY health problems after this, which I think is what he was talking about, as otherwise why would he not have mentioned it for RWS Henry as well? Second, the RWS timeline doesn't make any sense! British Railways got Nationalised in 1948. And that happened between Thomas the Tank Engine and James the Red Engine in the Railway Series, which SHOULD mean James the Red Engine happens in 1948 at the EARLIEST, making everything other than the first 2 books post WW2, but apparently according to Awdry it takes place during the 1920s? Makes no sense
Your theory about Edward's possible political orientation is exactly why Edward is my all-time favourite Thomas character!😆🩵 In terms of politics in real life, I myself am basically Toby😂
I must say this is an interesting Thomas analysis. If I made add some input, I do feel like Duke would be more conservative, since he’s always mentioning his grace and firmly believes in doing things a certain way.
Not the first time I've someone discuss these character from a political perspective, but I'll say that that what happens to bulgy is basically reactionary fantasy porn.
On the topic of James possibly being an LGBTQ+ character: For some reason, when I was about six years old, I thought James was a woman, or at least very effeminate (I don’t think I’d seen Magic Railroad at that point, so I was unlikely to be familiar with Susan Roman’s voice for him). Not only that, I was also shipping him with Gordon, so in 6YO me’s headcanon, either James was trans, or both of them were gay/bi. I was unintentionally engaging in the LGBTQ+ James discourse over a decade before I was even aware there _was_ a discourse.
I thought James, Percy, and Henry were girls for some reason. James and Percy I think was because of Magic Railroad but I am not sure why I thought Henry was female. Probably because he was super sensitive.
The thing about so-called communists (in contrast to what Marx meant by the term, which is different from what it ended up meaning) is that they’re actually right-wing. In practice, authoritarianism is inherently right-wing.
Daisy I think would be conservative. She’a the most feminine character in the series, wearing makeup and refusing to do dirty work. There’s an old saying “God made Eve, not to do everything Adam can but to do everything Adam can’t”. Daisy would believe that and if she were human I could see her as a housewife. Mavis I could see libertarian left. She’s a feminist in the way that she wants to do everything the boys do but at the same time she doesn’t view herself as superior to men just because she’s a woman. If Daisy is a housewife she’s a construction worker. So socially liberal but economically conservative. Rosie would be an anarchist/libertarian because she wants to be like Thomas. So when Thomas says “down with government” she follows to impress him. Pack would probably be conservative. They’re construction workers which tend to be conservative however they’d probably be pro union. So maybe they’d be JFK era democrats.
I'm not surprised most steam engines based of their book depiction would be considered right leaning considering they were written in the 1940s-70s by someone who would be considered moderately right leaning in the current political understanding.
12:02 Hmm by sitting on the points? From when is the turntable a type of switch? You probably recorded you talking so you should have put the RWS illustration.
I know this video is quite old, so here are a few thoughts and ideas. -Edward’s working during the big engine’s strike was less because he doesn’t like unions (because he probably either likes unions or is neutral on the subject) and more because he knew the big engines were on their bs again and he just decided to buckle down and get on with it instead of starting an argument. -James’ bigotry towards Diesels does remind me of the disturbing amount of racism in the lgbt community, at least from my experience. -Peter Sam probably secretly does Sir Handel’s taxes when he isn’t looking. -Toby is almost like Norm MacDonald, he says exactly the right thing to get the reaction he wants out of people.
I think the biggest ones missing are Duke boco daisy bulgy cranky salty harvey fergus and spencer. Any ideas? Edit: Oh yeah and lady because diesel 10 is here so why not .
I wonder what side Bill and Ben would be on. I imagine they would be on the same level of Percy as they work at the claypits which is an industrialised job so Bill and Ben would probably be the working class.
Yes, Gordon is VERY Conservative, but he is, perhaps slightly begrudgingly and only within reason, willing to live and let live...err, chug and let chug?
I feel like when looking at James and Gordon in an American political system, Gordon is a true republican while James gives off Democrat vibes. It's funny that Gordon is blue standing on the Republicans side (red) and James being red stands for Democrats (blue).
I'm surprised Daisy didn't get a mention, I personally think Daisy is a center-right character, she is a bit like Gordon, Duck and Diesel put together, She's Entitled as seen in Daisy (the episode) Boastful (as seen in Bulls Eyes) but also wants people to be nice to her (As seen in Springtime for Diesel) I think in all these three episodes, I think her entitled side is very present. In the country where I live, there was an Entitled female politician who acted just like Daisy, who was in the House of Representatives, representing the seat of boothby. I also think Duncan can either be left and right, All i know is that he likes to complain and there was a right-wing politician that literally acted just like him in Australia.
Well I guess I’m a anarchist
Thomas, good for you, your alright
I'm a scientist
Epic thomas
And your friend is a socialist
Thomas the anarchist tank engine
“I think duncan is flat out a communist” oh so thats why britt changed duncan’s color from red to yellow
That line made me laugh so much and I have no idea why
😂😂😂
@@TheRedStinger82I can tell you why, but RUclips will shiz can me so fast 😂
"BETTER DEAD THEN RED!"
Billy is also communist that makes more sense
"To me, Thomas is an anarchist"
I chuckled at this line
"Duncan is just a straight-up communist" was my favourite line.
Im dying! 💀
“I can garuntee you that sirhandel has been evading his taxes for years”
@@NitroIndigo I agree
I read that as antichrist
I never thought I'd watch a 25 minute video talking about the political views of talking locomotives
Yet here I am
Toby is the type of guy to not even pay attention to who he is voting for at an election
Toby's the type of voter to fill in random bubbles just to cause a little chaos.
He just spins a wheel too decide
Toby goes with which candidate is the most attractive
Tobybucha
@@ThighFish Kombucha?
"I think Duncan is just flat-out a communist"
I PHYSICALLY WHEEZED - from someone who knows absolutely nothing about politics
Well, the main reason Duncan keeps getting stuck in tunnels is because he keeps trying to do rock and roll
We all know diesel would tell the trains to scrap themselves for having 'wrong' political views 💀💀
Do not search up what Duck told Diesel when they first met in a storybook adaptation of Pop Goes the Diesel
A Very Bad Day For Sir Handel as he avoids his taxes
Sir Yoshi Handel
@@ThighFish😂🤣 that's hilarious!
Sir handel commits tax evasion and other stories
Hi luke
As a political theory student and a lifelong Thomas fan, nothing in the history of the world has been as tailor-made for me as this video😅
Edit: your analysis, despite some problems I have with your characterizations of either ideologies or engines themselves, is quite good, you do generally know what you're talking about. And there are many other dimensions of political you haven't addressed here, so you potentially have a lot to talk about if you were to make a part 2, or even more politically-themed Thomas content.
Would love to hear what other dimensions you could look at the ideologies!
@@ThomasTheorist The 9 axis political test has:
Federal vs Unitary
Democratic vs Authoritarian
Globalist vs Isolationist
Militarist vs Pacifist
Security vs Freedom
Equality vs Markets
Secular vs Religious
Progressive vs Traditional
Assimilation vs Milticulturalism
I love Edward just smugly working while the big engines strike
Toby’s political ideology is: “I just wanna grill for god’s sake!”
Louie in the Pikmin series:
Yea i mean yea
Based and grill-pilled Toby
Spencer is a monarchist no question
I also think Arthur would probably be on the conservative side seeing as how at least in his opening episode he's all about keeping things the same with his spotless record
If Spencer had a left or right side I'd say he'd be in the middle
I honestly find Arthur's claim to his spotless record, quite debatable. If anyone has a spotless record, it's Murdoch. He's never had an accident in the entire series.
17:31 ok that explains why he was absent for seasons 5-9. The irs got to him
The quarry was a child-friendly way of saying prison and his “rough riding” after said time there speaks for itself
Every choice I’ve ever made in my life has led me to a point where I’m watching a vid where we decide what political idealogies talking trains from my childhood hold. No regrets.
Thomas Theorist: Gordon is a Republican
My Brain: Gordon Trump
Which is weird since Gordon's an English engine.
But why does Gordon being Republican make sense?
@flickcentergaming680 Because he's willing to, "Make his railway great."
My takes on some of the characters:
Thomas: Anarcho-Monarchist
Edward: Some kind of moderate Conservative
Henry: Green Conservatism
Gordon: Old school Tory
James: Queer Conservative
Percy: Labourism
Duck: Classical Liberal
Donald and Douglas: Old school SNP voter
Diesel 10: Classical National Socialist
Peter Sam: Libertarian Socialist
Toad: Social Democrat
Bradford: American Military Industrial Complex
Frankly James reminds me of Morrissey (except less gloomy) a queer guy with bigoted views
I guess I'm with Toad then
Personally, I do not think that Toby gives a single fuck when it comes to politics, it’s funny really
@@AnarchistoftheInternet His politics are whatever memes he thinks will piss off the person at the moment lol
I do consider Edward more left wing socially because of his friendly personallity and welcoming to all sorts of people or trains for that case. Unless you count episodes like Edward Strikes Out or Harvey to the Rescue.
hit era edward is a faker
Edward and BoCo were accidently transferred to Guantanamo Bay by Hit and thus were not present for that time as they were busy building a raft to escape.
@@jackswan3420 Lol 😂.
I'm conservative and I don't mind being friends with black or gay people...unless they devote their lifes to a nonsense ideology like Communism
Edward never likes cranes after Big mickey pushes him off the tracks
There are just so many random characters I’d love to see your take on: Stepney, Stafford, Molly, Neville, Smudger, Big Mickey, the logging locos, Paxton, the list is endless…
The loggers are anarchists
@@Imsorrywat they'd be AnPrim, or in other words, monke
Stepney would probably be in favour of immigration considering that in the tvs canon he was smuggled by rusty and in IRL and the red canon he was saved by the bluebell railway
I wonder how this would work if Thomas took place in the 21st century
That’s for us to decide with our AUs, RWS headcanons, and post-S24 headcanons
17:31 I loved this line, I can just imagine Sir Handel sweating every time something like the IRS or EOFY is mentioned
“The Tax Collector! You’ve found me!”
@@thesealsharkproductions9780 "I'm banishing you to the shadow realm."
"NooOOOooo"
...
"Much better."
So that’s where he was for 5 seasons
@@Imsorrywat oh my god, that actually makes sense
I'm not too surprised about Gordon being a Conservative.
His self-importance, prejudice towards freight cars, and when he once said that "branch lines are vulgar" serve as a few justifications.
Somehow, I'm learning more things in this 24 minute video than my civics class all year round
I've been thinking about another politics-related Thomas topic, that is the political leaning of different parts of the Island of Sodor.
Here's my take on the whole thing :
The Knapford-Tidmouth urban area, Vicarstown and Crovan's Gate, being both significant railway hubs (which in turn involves the widespread presence of rail workers) and Sodor's population population centers, would be left of center. Brendam being an industrial place with Brendam Docks would be as well.
Conversely, towns along branchlines or the mainline, such as Elsbridge on Thomas's branch line, Maron on the main line, or any other hill/mountain town on Skarloey railway, would be more conservative.
You'd also have Sudrian regionalists left or right here or there.
What do you guys think ?
Really great my friend
Also, come to think of it, Duke would be an interesting conundrum. He's old like SkaRhen, Toby and Edward, but is also fairly in-your-face about how things should be done "That would never suit His Grace". However, at the same time, he's also a bit laid-back, as he does give Smudger and Falcon those warnings, but also essentially let's fate step in with them.
Idk, he'd be quite interesting to see.
He’s just the perfect example of someone’s elder ahah
Duke is older than politics itself so hes too confused to talk about it💀💀
Duke's so old, he's a member of John Adams' Federalist Party and campaigned against Thomas Jefferson.
I'm pretty sure Duke would be auth-right. He's conservative, and he believes in order and knowing one's place. He's also sort of a nationalist as exemplified by his dislike of Smudger/Stanley (a chaotic American immigrant).
Duke might make sense as a federalist, or even Libertarian Right.
9:57 screw it Percy for Prime Minister
Also I think you should have included S.C.Ruffey here because unlike most trucks he obviously thinks a leader is needed.
Now as Thomas progresses in the Seasons, he’s more center libertarian. He’s matured a lot by Season 4 and later.
Not the mention he ain't crossing lines by outright disregard for Sir Tophan Hatt when reprimanded.
I dont think Thomas is an anarchist
@@NWRTales1221*Showing
Maybe Thomas is a AnCap
The only authority he likes and listens to is his boss Sir Topham Hatt
I wanna see a fanfic where all the characters are politicians, that'd be gold, perhaps have them be veterans of ww2
All I can say this, is that Emily, Mavis, Rosie and Daisy are such Feminist icons
I don’t know what I was expecting going into this, but Duncan being a communist and Peter Sam regularly committing tax evasion isn’t what I was expecting
Duck being in the authoritarian right is hilarious
THIS IS NOT A JOKE THE VALEDICTORIAN FROM MY SCHOOL LAST YEARS TALKS ABOUT THIS VIDEO IN HIS SPEECH. I was watching last year’s graduation ceremony since my was this year and I wanted to get a feel for what to expect. When it got to the valedictorian’s speech he started it off by talking about Thomas and that “if you were wondering what a valedictorian does with his spare time, it’s watch videos about the political ideology of Thomas the tank engine characters”. The speech is in “LHS Class of 2023 Graduation” by LTPSRewind and skip to about 41 minutes in. THIS IS WILD
It is wild that some in school see this and talk about it
I love how you pronounced James like Ringo Star
It’s an interesting video, but I think it’s a bit too from an American perspective considering the characters are British and would be in British not American Politics.
A few examples:
-Henry: in the UK he wouldn’t be in Healthcare debt as it’s a free at point of use and supported by all mainstream sides
-Donald & Douglas: they aren’t immigrants, they’re Scots. It’s like a Texan moving to Virginia.
-Thomas and Emily: them being Monarchists is nothing unusual. In the UK the very vast majority either support or don’t mind the Monarchy. Though of course to be fair, there are different types, reasons and extents of support for the Monarchy.
"Rusty is one of the few characters in the whole franchise who has a fluid gender"
"So, on a social level, I definitely think *he*-"
He was specifically not considered male I think only in season 4.
“Workers of the World, Unite!”
-Duncan, Four Little Engines
At first, I thought that this was inaccurate since he wasn’t in that story. Then I realized he’d probably be working at a factory during the time that story is taking place. Probably tried leading a workers strike or revolt leading him to get sold cheap to the skarloey railway. Since there’s a time skip between that and when he arrives on the railway, I chalk it up to the revolt he started lasting that long!
I’d consider the trucks to be anarchists.
I agree, but they would be the chaotic anarchists, and I’m also an anarchist
For part 2, the only thing I can say for certain: Billy is 100% an anarchist, for the exact same reasons Thomas is.
That's all I've got.
*"yOU arE a vERy BoSSy EnGInE!"*
This may very well be the only comparison of James to the Scottish Twins I’ll ever see
I feel like the truck would be anarchist since they love causing mischief and trouble despite railway safety rules. If the trucks are thin, body meant of anarchy in the Thomas universe, I don’t know what is.
The railway series would be different.
They seem to more be "troublesome" when they are treated like shit
Bear - Centrist. If Toby is centrist because he stopped giving a shit years ago, Bear is centrist because he tries, in his own grumpy way, to care about every viewpoint. He listened to Spamcan's (authoritarian right, of course!) slander about the steam engines, but told him where to stick it - but it was obvious he had his own reservations about the Steamies. So, Bear is centrist.
hmmm...I didn't know that being apathetic is such a centrist stereotype. 😏
Spamcan? Is that a nickname for D199?
@@NitroIndigo Yep.
@@americanliberal09 It's more that Toby is liable to say he's a communist to pee Gordon off, and then say he's an arch-conservative to the Twins to troll them. Frankly, Toby has had lost all interest in Steamie politics due to the incompatibility of the opposing views.
@@robertwilloughby8050 Oh. So you seriously wanna believe that, right?
I feel if you were to go over everyone's favorite loggin' locos they'd fall under full anarchy.
Diesel ten would definitely be center authoritarian, much akin to the Austrian painter.
I don't know why, but just flat out stating Duncan's a communist is hilarious to me. Can definetely relate to James too...minus the racism.
Racism isn’t the word, and diesels aren’t represented of minorities. If anything the steam engines are the minority’s!!
Back in the day, a derogatory term for someone who is on the left wing is called a “pinko”. It’s an American political term. I guess some characters like Henry and Emily are considered pinkos by other characters like Gordon or Duck.
Also, weren’t the troublesome trucks anarchistic because of their intent to cause chaos with the engines?
The trucks are more terrorists than anything. They exist to cause destruction, even at the cost of their own lives
No??? Because its an American term???
@@lou626 What do you know? It’s a term for rebelling against any government in the world and being lawless. Like the parliament
@@thecaledoniansleeper2648 i never heard it tbh. If theres a word for thar in america , then theres a word for that in the UK. Dont get so offended lol
@@lou626 Okay Anglophile
I can't believe this show is still being talked about and being compared to real world governments.
Of course Emily is a feminist when you said that. She be the first train to ever attend a Roe v. Wade protest
I straight-up started laughing you hearing just flat out call James gay 😂 (not that I'm against it)
I mean Alec Baldwin was asked if James was gay cause of the voice he did for him and he said “If that’s your interpretation”.
alot of people think James is gay
My new headcanon is that James and Edward are Bill and Ben's gay dads.
Have you seen the James x Edward fanfics?
Welcome back to RUclips explains social studies topics better then the school system. 😂
That was an interesting video! I could see Thomas as an anarchist and Duncan as a communist is interesting, I would love to see Duncan with a communist hat. I laughed that Henry was a new age hippie and that was interesting even though he loves trees. I would love to see a part two to this.
And diesel 10 a facist.
Henry as a green conservative makes a lot of sense!😅
20:02 Ok that line was perfect for this video!😂
I feel this is so true! I think for a part 2 you should do Duke, Smudger/Stanley and Bertram
Smudger would be an anarchist and Duke would be a monarchist
The main problem with the political compass chart is that it was made by Libertarians to try to persuade people that they liked Libertarian views by presenting the opposite side as authoritarian, where there's a huge area of government regulation but still a clear democracy that isn't really accounted for on the chart. I have often been shown as Libertarian Left whenever I've taken the quiz, but I would not in any way consider myself to be a Libertarian
Also, with Henry, he lived in the UK in post World War 2, therefore he would have access to free healthcare. This could still mean that he is more left wing as he is thankful of this fact, but honestly I think it's more likely he'll just take it for granted like a lot of us did until a couple years ago, and so not let it affect his views
Most of Henry's issues were far before WW2, he was built around the late 1910s, and suffered with mechanical faults until his rebuild in 1935.
@@jackswan3420 The two counters to that are:
First, when talking about Henry being left due to health issues, he was talking about the TV Series, where he has MANY health problems after this, which I think is what he was talking about, as otherwise why would he not have mentioned it for RWS Henry as well?
Second, the RWS timeline doesn't make any sense! British Railways got Nationalised in 1948. And that happened between Thomas the Tank Engine and James the Red Engine in the Railway Series, which SHOULD mean James the Red Engine happens in 1948 at the EARLIEST, making everything other than the first 2 books post WW2, but apparently according to Awdry it takes place during the 1920s? Makes no sense
You're probably right. It's part of the authoritarian right's aim to paint themselves as libertarian.
I wonder if it's possible to examine Stepney. He's a very cheerful chap.
(Irl Stepney is highly valued and is well cared for.)
Never thought I’d see a Thomas the Tank Engine political compass, but here we are
Your theory about Edward's possible political orientation is exactly why Edward is my all-time favourite Thomas character!😆🩵
In terms of politics in real life, I myself am basically Toby😂
Im honestly suprised how entertaining this was, great vidio.
In other words, Henry is a tree hugger and Emily is an environmentalist? No wonder they work so well together.
I must say this is an interesting Thomas analysis. If I made add some input, I do feel like Duke would be more conservative, since he’s always mentioning his grace and firmly believes in doing things a certain way.
This is a pretty interesting topic.. 😂
Not the first time I've someone discuss these character from a political perspective, but I'll say that that what happens to bulgy is basically reactionary fantasy porn.
Bruh this video got me laughing my ass off
I have been watching Thomas for nearly thirty years, didn't realize the black wheels reference. Now I gotta reevaluate Edward's whole character 😢
Well, now this video is making me wonder about the political views of the TUGS characters like Billy Shoepack and Bluenose.
I feel like you can make this a series by shorts for each character.
On the topic of James possibly being an LGBTQ+ character:
For some reason, when I was about six years old, I thought James was a woman, or at least very effeminate (I don’t think I’d seen Magic Railroad at that point, so I was unlikely to be familiar with Susan Roman’s voice for him). Not only that, I was also shipping him with Gordon, so in 6YO me’s headcanon, either James was trans, or both of them were gay/bi.
I was unintentionally engaging in the LGBTQ+ James discourse over a decade before I was even aware there _was_ a discourse.
I thought James, Percy, and Henry were girls for some reason. James and Percy I think was because of Magic Railroad but I am not sure why I thought Henry was female. Probably because he was super sensitive.
I remember there where some people that thought Edward was a girl, and looking back I can see why, like in his face
i though his smile face in the clearwaters series looks like a girl when i was little
I used to think Percy was a girl based on his voice in the Sharon Miller era.
I've also found his face oddly effeminate.
17:33 Sir Handel when the IRS shows up to his house for evading taxes
Part 2! I'd like this deep dive into these characters
Remember, genocide isn't specifically alt right. the communists did plenty of it. i think it's jsut a general authoritarian thing
The thing about so-called communists (in contrast to what Marx meant by the term, which is different from what it ended up meaning) is that they’re actually right-wing. In practice, authoritarianism is inherently right-wing.
8:35 Alec Baldwin’s James voice really adds to that (especially in Busy Going Backwards).
Henry the hippie, haha
Duck and Diesel are like Stan and Haley Smith
Now I know why Toby is my favorite character. He is literally me.
suggestions: daisy, rocky, rosie, victor, the horrid lorries, some of the pack, harold, mavis, bulgy
Daisy I think would be conservative. She’a the most feminine character in the series, wearing makeup and refusing to do dirty work. There’s an old saying “God made Eve, not to do everything Adam can but to do everything Adam can’t”. Daisy would believe that and if she were human I could see her as a housewife.
Mavis I could see libertarian left. She’s a feminist in the way that she wants to do everything the boys do but at the same time she doesn’t view herself as superior to men just because she’s a woman. If Daisy is a housewife she’s a construction worker. So socially liberal but economically conservative.
Rosie would be an anarchist/libertarian because she wants to be like Thomas. So when Thomas says “down with government” she follows to impress him.
Pack would probably be conservative. They’re construction workers which tend to be conservative however they’d probably be pro union. So maybe they’d be JFK era democrats.
@@ChrisSuperDude very interesting.
Victor would be pro-immigration for obvious reasons.
Percy was brought in to the railway essentially as a scab , he was loyal to the fat controller and not the striking engines
I’m glad you had the George Carlin cameo, that’s was funny.
As a Thomas fan I do agree on some of the characters ideology there are some other political dimensions you have to consider for more parts.
I never thought anyone would theorize the political ideology of thomas the tank engine and im all for it
Top 10 thumbnails of all time
I could see Thomas only being a monarchist because he liked the queen herself. When Charles got crowned he probably jumped off the bandwagon.
James being the “gay uncle”😭
I'm not surprised most steam engines based of their book depiction would be considered right leaning considering they were written in the 1940s-70s by someone who would be considered moderately right leaning in the current political understanding.
Why does TVS Henry have to get authleft? Libleft’s green for a reason, you know!
What is the political ideology of the ballast spreader (aka sodor railway repair)?
Anarcho-syndicalist
I see
Duck and Oliver being religious does make sense given that the Great Western Railway was known as Gods wonderful railway
12:02 Hmm by sitting on the points? From when is the turntable a type of switch? You probably recorded you talking so you should have put the RWS illustration.
Is it weird that I can see Sir and Lady Hatt flirting via political discussions?
Now this is some quality content
I know this video is quite old, so here are a few thoughts and ideas.
-Edward’s working during the big engine’s strike was less because he doesn’t like unions (because he probably either likes unions or is neutral on the subject) and more because he knew the big engines were on their bs again and he just decided to buckle down and get on with it instead of starting an argument.
-James’ bigotry towards Diesels does remind me of the disturbing amount of racism in the lgbt community, at least from my experience.
-Peter Sam probably secretly does Sir Handel’s taxes when he isn’t looking.
-Toby is almost like Norm MacDonald, he says exactly the right thing to get the reaction he wants out of people.
I think the biggest ones missing are Duke boco daisy bulgy cranky salty harvey fergus and spencer. Any ideas?
Edit: Oh yeah and lady because diesel 10 is here so why not .
If you ever do a part two include the rest of the narrow engines
Wait people think James is gay? I thought that was just because of the way the narrator voiced him in the American dub
Ignore them, that's just people being stupid.
I wonder what side Bill and Ben would be on. I imagine they would be on the same level of Percy as they work at the claypits which is an industrialised job so Bill and Ben would probably be the working class.
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Is it weird that I want a sequel with the side characters?
Yes, Gordon is VERY Conservative, but he is, perhaps slightly begrudgingly and only within reason, willing to live and let live...err, chug and let chug?
I wouldn't mind seeing a Part 2 with different characters.
22:28 So The Lady Hatt and Topham Hatt are like Phil and Michelle from Sudrian Conflict.
Sure why not.
I feel like when looking at James and Gordon in an American political system, Gordon is a true republican while James gives off Democrat vibes. It's funny that Gordon is blue standing on the Republicans side (red) and James being red stands for Democrats (blue).
I'm surprised Daisy didn't get a mention, I personally think Daisy is a center-right character, she is a bit like Gordon, Duck and Diesel put together, She's Entitled as seen in Daisy (the episode) Boastful (as seen in Bulls Eyes) but also wants people to be nice to her (As seen in Springtime for Diesel) I think in all these three episodes, I think her entitled side is very present. In the country where I live, there was an Entitled female politician who acted just like Daisy, who was in the House of Representatives, representing the seat of boothby. I also think Duncan can either be left and right, All i know is that he likes to complain and there was a right-wing politician that literally acted just like him in Australia.
Duncan's definitely left-wing just because of how working-class he is and how much he loves rebellious new culture like rock 'n' roll music.