History BrokenBase / ThomasAndFriends

** "Rosie is Red". It gets praise for the moral that if a girl and a boy hang out, that doesn't mean they're dating, while the more hardcore fans argue that the moral is [[CluelessAesop out of place]] in a show that [[NoHuggingNoKissing previously didn't have any romance or teasing between the engines in the first place]].

** "Rosie is Red". It gets praise for the moral that if a girl and a boy hang out, that doesn't mean they're dating, while the more hardcore fans argue that romance has no place on the show.

* The “Big World! Big Adventures!” era, lasting from Seasons 22-24 is also divisive among fans. Some like it for being a change of pace and testing different dynamics by incorporating the international engines (both newbies and returning ''[[WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriendsTheGreatRace The Great Race]]'' characters), while others hate it due to the faster pacing, Nia and Rebecca joining the main cast purely to force in more female representation, Edward, Toby, and Henry's roles being diminished to make way for Nia and Rebecca and appease the feminists who frequently target the show for its predominantly-male cast, and the focus on more gimmicks such as unrealistic fantasy sequences, over-the-top stunts (some of which actually take place ''outside'' of fantasy sequences) and wild animals. Some also hate the involvement of the United Nations on the new series, due to them pushing agendas and prioritizing cultural and political messages over the storytelling. Everyone, though, agrees that the series was retooled by Mattel specifically to compete with ''WesternAnimation/PawPatrol'', which had taken a considerable amount of Thomas' market share.

* '''Whiff'''. Oh dear. [[{{Gonk}} Whiff]]. A filthy steam engine, ''wearing glasses''. Some find him charming, but many fans were disheartened feeling the show at this point had abandoned all and any railroad/railway realism it had left. [[FranchiseOriginalSin Though, it should be noted that the original books had a minor character, the Ballast Spreader, who also had glasses.]]
* Certain characters retaining their early [=HiT=] era personalities in the Brenner era (particularly Henry). Some think it gives the characters more unique personalities, while others feel it makes them too far removed from their original characters.
** On the topic of Henry, fans feel his departure from the main cast in “Forever and Ever” to take up residency at Vicarstown was poorly handled. While some see the move as trying to be “Railway Series faithful” (due to the engines living at Vicarstown in the early books), others feel his move was poorly explained and done solely to write him out due to the writers despising him, and to make room for Rebecca. Fans feel that because he has been handled badly in later seasons, and with most of his season 22 appearances only being cameos, Henry should have been written out of the show altogether, just to save him from rotting away in the background.
* Emily has been a subject of split opinion among the fandom ever since her first appearance in Season 7. To start off with, there were some who took a liking to her for her kind, sensible and mature personality, along with representing a not very well known but beloved historical locomotive, while others found her to be rather basic and felt that she didn't really add much to the series aside from being a way to balance out the cast's gender inequality at the time. The fact that the new series [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] her into a bossy, controlling nagger didn't help matters, either. "Emily's Adventure" was a particularly notorious showcase of this, with her being rude to just about everyone she interacts with in the episode, telling them that they're not working hard enough, and not showing any form of gratitude to them when they help her. After watching the episode, most people, even her detractors, could all agree that Season 7 Emily would ''never'' do this. While she does revert to her original caring and helpful personality in the CGI seasons, there are still some shades of bossiness hanging around occasionally (likely to maintain a FatalFlaw for her like the other engines), causing some to have the same split opinions as the ones mentioned above.
* Flying Scotsman finally being introduced in ''[[WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriendsTheGreatRace The Great Race]]'' had a mixed response. While in all versions he cares about his brother Gordon. They kept the Spencer-tradition going that any foreign British locomotive is always depicted negatively. The famous engine's graceful and humble character of the books was dropped in favor of turning [[UpperClassTwit him into a more pompous and arrogant version of Gordon]]. However, since all of his jabs were directed at Gordon, and he was shown to speak kindly to Thomas, [[SiblingRivalry he could just be teasing Gordon for fun without any underlying pomposity]], and [[ThickerThanWater he does show concern for Gordon's well being during the titular Great Race]], so his smokebox may not be so clouded with pride as it appears.

* Donald and Douglas' SiblingRivalry in the later seasons. Some fans find their bickering to be humorous while the other half find it annoying and prefer their friendlier relationship in the earlier seasons.
* Philip is another divisive character. Some like him for being {{Adorkable}} and among the few new characters to get an Awdry-esque character arc, while others detest him for being basically, an annoying child. It also didn’t help he was the reason Edward decided to transfer to Wellsworth Sheds, where Philip lives.
* Nia is quite divisive. She has garnered some praise for her resourcefulness and kindness, while others pan her for supposedly being too OP. It doesn't help that she's taking Edward's place in the main cast, along with being criticized as a FlatCharacter due to her only character trait being a TokenMinority.

* Rebecca also falls into this following her introduction in season 22. Some fans like her for her {{Adorkable}} personality and expression (with some fans liking her only due to said facial expressions) as well as being based on a popular locomotive class, while others loathe her due to replacing Henry in the main cast and having a ridiculous over-the-top EyeCandy livery, the latter of which Mattel said was done in an attempt to please young children with low attention spans. It also doesn't help that many feel the writers missed the chance to make the [[EnsembleDarkhorse beloved]] season 9 character Molly a permanent member of the cast, being another [[ShrinkingViolet extremely shy]] yellow female tender engine.

* Duck, despite being a popular character whose return was greatly praised among fans, soon developed a broken base following his return in season 17. Him constantly saying his "There are two ways of doing things..." catchphrase grew tiresome among some fans. There's even a group who believe Duck was solely brought back purely to [[PanderingToTheBase pander to older fans.]] And deride any appearance he makes in an episode regardless of how important it may be. Oliver gets it to a lesser extent as well.

* At least to an extent, James gets this treatment. While he is popular and isn't as hated as characters like Nia and Ace, he's also received a fair number of detractors because his later CGI appearances. This is due to his AesopAmnesia, NeverLiveItDown moments, and [[TookALevelInJerkass increased jerkishness]]. His supporters, however, still consider him likeable and point out he has his [[PetTheDog softer moments]].

* Ace gets a lot of hate for being a toxic influence to Thomas, yet he also has fans, mostly because of his "Free and Easy" song.

* Hong-Mei is another often hated character. Some enjoy her for being a fun engine, while others hugely despise her for having no character traits other than just being a [[DistaffCounterpart female version]] of Thomas.

* Emily has been a subject of split opinion among the fandom ever since her first appearance in Season 7. To start off with, there were some who took a liking to her for her kind, sensible and mature personality, along with representing a not very well known but beloved historical locomotive, while others found her to be rather basic and felt that she didn't really add much to the series aside from being a way to balance out the cast's gender inequality at the time. The fact that the new series [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] her into a bossy, controlling nagger didn't help matters, either. "Emily's Adventure" was a particularly notorious showcase of this, with her being rude to just about everyone she interacts with in the episode, telling them that they're not working hard enough, and not showing any form of gratitude to them when they help her. After watching the episode, most people, even her detractors, could all agree that Season 7 Emily would ''never'' do this. While she does revert to her original caring and helpful personality in the CGI seasons, there are still some shades of bossiness still hanging around occasionally (likely to maintain a FatalFlaw for her like the other engines), causing some to have the same split opinions as the ones mentioned above.

* Emily has been a subject of split opinion among the fandom ever since her first appearance in Season 7. To start off with, there were some who took a liking to her for her kind, sensible and mature personality, along with representing a not very well known but beloved historical locomotive, while others found her to be rather basic and felt that she didn't really add much to the series aside from being a way to balance out the cast's gender inequality at the time. The fact that the new series [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] her into a bossy, controlling nagger didn't help matters, either. "Emily's Adventure" was a particularly notorious showcase of this, with her being rude to just about everyone she interacts with in the episode, telling them that they're not working hard enough not showing any form of gratitude to them when they help her. After watching the episode, most people, even her detractors, could all agree that Season 7 Emily would ''never'' do this. While she does revert to her original caring and helpful personality in the CGI seasons, there are still some shades of bossiness still hanging around occasionally (likely to maintain a FatalFlaw for her like the other engines), causing some to have the same split opinions as the ones mentioned above.

* While Season 8 is generally considered the best season of the HiT era, it's heavily debated as to if it's the last good season or the first bad one.

* Was Season 8 the last good season or the first bad one?

Even a children's show about talking trains is not without its divided fanbase.

* Seasons 6 and 7. Some think the two seasons are just as good as the first 5 Britt Alcroft and David Mitton contributed too, while others dislike it for how characters like Percy and Edward started to become [[{{Flanderized}} dumbed down]], railway realism being ignored for [[MerchandiseDriven toyetic gimmicks]] and how the plots became {{Anvilicious}}. The one thing fans 'do' agree on is that the special effects became more weaker, with dull lighting, uninspired camera angles and the characters toy like repaint often making the former two problems more apparent.

* The faces. Charmingly simple or [[UncannyValley nightmarishly unsettling]]?

* Emily has been a subject of split opinion among the fandom ever since her first appearance in Season 7. To start off with, there were some who took a liking to her for her kind, sensible and mature personality, along with representing a [[RareVehicles not very well known]] but beloved historical locomotive, while others found her to be rather basic and felt that she didn't really add much to the series aside from being a way to balance out the cast's gender inequality at the time. The fact that the new series [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] her into a bossy, controlling nagger didn't help matters, either. "Emily's Adventure" was a particularly notorious showcase of this, with her being rude to just about everyone she interacts with in the episode, telling them that they're not working hard enough not showing any form of gratitude to them when they help her. After watching the episode, most people, even her detractors, could all agree that Season 7 Emily would ''never'' do this. While she does revert to her original caring and helpful personality in the CGI seasons, there are still some shades of bossiness still hanging around occasionally (likely to maintain a FatalFlaw for her like the other engines), causing some to have the same split opinions as the ones mentioned above.

* ''WesternAnimation/BigWorldBigAdventures'' has split the fanbase even further than the previous two specials, with some panning it for the downgraded lighting and unrealism, and others praising it for the soundtrack and the characterizations of Nia and Beau.

** Given that it is intended to be the GrandFinale of the original show, ''Thomas and the Royal Engine'' and how well it served as a finale to the show is unsurprisingly divisive amongst fans. Some feel it was fine and liked the little nods to past episodes, while others found it disappointing and anti-climatic, arguing that the show deserved a better send off after airing for 36 years.