Why is the mod that makes 'Kikansha Thomas' appear in the game?

' Kikansha Thomas ', an animation for infants in the United Kingdom owned by Mattel , a major American toy maker, is a popular program that has been broadcast in Japan since 1990, and among Fuji TV's ' Hirake! Ponkikki '. It started broadcasting, and as of 2019, it has been broadcasted on NHK E-Tel as ' Thomas and Friends '. Overseas media is searching for the reason why such 'Things have recently come to be frequently seen as a mod of games ' for some reason .

Why are people modding Thomas the Tank Engine into video ...-The Face
https://theface.com/culture/why-are-people-modding-thomas-the-tank-engine-into-video-games

In the 1983 Disney movie ' Something Wicked This Way Comes ' and in 1994 the ' Final Fantasy VI ', the train is described in relation to horror elements. There is a theory that it was the first time that trains were viewed as targets of fear in this way, “ arrival of trains to La Ciotat station ”, a black-and-white silent film produced in France in 1895. This silent film is a fixed-point image that takes only about 50 seconds, but at the time of its release, it was said that it scared the audience that 'the train will break through the screen and jump out.'

L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat 1895-YouTube


As the latest example, the foreign media The Face has mentioned the relationship between the game mod and Thomas. The Face notes that the Thomas Mod is in vogue in recent years as 'one of the madnesss in the game remodel community'.

In particular, it seems that around 2013, mods that make Thomas appear in the game became popular. At that time, a mod that transforms the dragon appearing in ' The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim ' into Thomas and Friends became popular.

Skyrim: Thomas the Tank Engine mod-YouTube


Besides, Thomas MOD is also distributed in ' Grand Theft Auto V ', and recently, the 'Movil Hazard RE: 2' Tyrant has been transformed into Thomas and others.

Biohazard RE: A mod that transforms 2 tyrants into 'Kikansha Thomas' appears and talks about 'inversely creepy'-GIGAZINE

A mod that transforms the boss character of 'SEKIRO: SHADOWS DIE TWICE (隻 狼)' into Thomas and Friends became a topic.

MOD appeared to make Thomas appear in popular action 'SEKIRO', bloody raging Thomas frightens-GIGAZINE

'But to be honest, everything was spontaneous,' said Kevin Brock, the game designer who first created the Thomas Mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Friends ripping out of the iPhone game Having given me the model data of 'Kikansha Thomas', I thought about what I could do for my friends and spent about half an hour creating a MOD to display Thomas instead of the dragon. I read a picture book, but I never thought about Thomas after I became an adult, but it was only Thomas that came out as a result of thinking 'What is the most strange thing?' I speak.

Mr. Brock, who had a track record in producing train-related mods, actually became famous after producing Thomas MOD for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. “At some point, pop culture's collective consciousness has become 'Mod' equal 'Thursday', and at that point there is enough power to turn everything that can be changed into Thomas. It was included in the MOD community, 'he said, analyzing why Thomas MOD was in vogue.

Naturally, putting a particular character into another game without permission is a risk of copyright infringement. However, even if it is a modification such as MOD, it is considered to be a category of fair use unless it is for the purpose of profit, so it seems that no major problems occur. Still, Mr. Brock who first made Thomas MOD was said to have had a hard time, 'Matelle (Thomas's right of origin) will want me to die at this time. This is Thomas in Fallout 4 It's the same reason that mods can't be found on regular websites. '

Mr. Brock has also notified Mattel to use the Macedonian law firm to delete the Thomas MOD, which has been uploaded on YouTube, saying, 'Block's MOD reduced Mattel's Thomas brand.' It is also clear.

Really Useful Fallout-YouTube


Mr. ZOMBI ト ー マ ス ALI who made Thomas MOD for 'Resident Evil RE: 2' said, 'After MOD became a big topic, I was able to get a fairly high reputation. And to frequently draw attention Became to be considered as a 'MOD producer' to make a MOD, but, in fact, it was the first time that Ale was the first to produce a MOD ', saying that the magnitude of the response when making a Thomas MOD And talk about the voice of jealousy.

However, basically the reaction of the MOD community is 'generally positive'. The reason is that the creators understand that creating and attracting attention to famous character mods is a necessary part of making games and mods more visible to more people. .

Mr. Brock also stated, 'There are more users getting Thomas mod, but there is never a lot of cases where general users get to pay attention to other mods. 'Mods like jokes are in vogue on social networks etc, and I feel that there are more cases where it leads to promoting my other works.'