By It transitioned from a meme to an inevitability: if a game can be modified, eventually someone will incorporate Thomas the Tank Engine into it. The modder who was the first to introduce Thomas’s terrifying likeness to Skyrim hasn’t exactly won over Mattel, the toy firm that now possesses the rights to the franchise, and with a fresh Morrowind mod he is essentially provoking lawyers to take action against him.
“I created a mod that substitutes cliffracers with Thomas the Tank Engine,” as modder Kevin “Trainwiz” Brock declares in a Bluesky post revealing his new Morrowind modification. (Thanks, PC Gamer.) “I do not learn lessons when corporations are involved because I fundamentally do not regard toy company CEOs or media CEOs as individuals.”
Brock is indeed the same modder who introduced Thomas to Skyrim initially. “I got into serious trouble,” he mentioned to The Face back in 2019. “Mattel pretty much wants me gone at this stage – it’s the reason why the Fallout 4 mod is absent from any standard site.” He elaborated, “It was some intermediary law firm located in Macedonia, claiming that I tarnished the image of Thomas by depicting him exploding (with no mention of him violently killing people).”
www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mo…
I created a mod that replaces cliffracers with Thomas the Tank Engine. I do not learn lessons when corporations are involved because I fundamentally do not regard toy company CEOs or media CEOs as individuals.
#morrowind #thomasthetankengine— @trainwiz.bsky.social (@trainwiz.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-11-25T22:56:05.358Z
“In the midst of developing my game and dealing with various accidental injuries, I sometimes feel compelled to exploit a particular joke until its unavoidable demise,” Brock indicates on the Nexus Mods page for his latest creation. “I will pursue this regardless of how many legal threats, actual dangers, black vans adorned with the Mattel logo, or severed Barbie heads are sent my way. This stems from my issues with authority, specifically that which arises from intimidation. I confronted many bullies during my childhood.”
In a sense, this mod is even more alarming than the Skyrim iteration. The prior one utilized dragons as the foundation for Thomas’s appearance, causing the large, menacing train to emerge solely during those boss encounters. While dragon battles in Skyrim are common, they’re incomparable to the cliff racers in Morrowind, which trail you relentlessly throughout the expansive world. Transforming those cliff racers into Thomas implies you’re perpetually pursued by endless trains.
Moreover, as Brock elaborates, the mod intensifies. “It comes in two (TWO) variants: one that merely replaces them, and another that also integrates the mod that causes two to spawn for every single one you eliminate.” If Morrowind wasn’t bizarre enough as a horror game, it certainly is now, yet Brock’s laid-back demeanor makes it at least somewhat tolerable.
“I originally created this years ago but never published it, only to realize that I genuinely don’t care anymore.” The rare kind of hero we both need and deserve.