YMMV / Thomas & Friends: The Great Race

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• Broken Base: Flying Scotsman finally being introduced had a mixed response. While in all versions he cares about his brother Gordon, they kept the Spencer-tradition where any foreign British locomotive is always depicted negatively. The famous engine's graceful and humble character of the books was rewritten in favor of recasting him as a more pompous and arrogant version of Gordon.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: The international engines have been widely acclaimed since their introductions for their unique designs, though Vinnie is often panned for his behavior (see Ethnic Scrappy below). Fans particularly took to Ashima, the one with the biggest role in the story, and she is the most represented in terms of fanart (most likely due to her eye-catching design and the Ship Tease she had with Thomas).
• Ethnic Scrappy: Vinnie is seen as this to some viewers who consider him to be a bad American stereotype, even though his basis is that of a Canadian National U4a 6400 class, built at the Montreal Locomotive Works. The only connection he has to America is the fact that the MLW was the Canadian offshoot of the American Locomotive Co. (AL Co). Muddling things more is the fact that Vinnie is listed as being from North America, not specifically the United States or Canada. In fact, the lack of any new characters truly from the United States was possibly intentional after the Logging Loco controversy.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: The international engines from The Great Race have all been stated to only be sticking around for this one special, which automatically caused some fans to view them this way.
  • This feeling was increased to some following the release of the film in UK cinemas, as with the exceptions of Ashima, Vinnie, and Flying Scotsman, most of them are relegated to primarily background roles, only having one or two lines each with some not speaking at all.
  • One of the biggest is Yong Bao. He's mentioned as having saved hundreds of people from a horrible accident, and he doesn't even get to speak.
  • This is ultimately subverted when all the international engines (save Ivan, Axel, Etienne and Frieda) return in the final three seasons, AKA the Big World, Big Adventures rebrand.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Some fans wish the film had been A Day in the Limelight for Gordon, given how his relationship with his brother the Flying Scotsman is under-developed and Gordon being streamlined to try and best him would have made the film's Be Yourself moral more powerful. Instead, Thomas is once again the Spotlight-Stealing Squad taking most of the screen time.

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