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The iconic, terrifying visage of Thomas the Tank Engine has once again chugged its way into the world of The Elder Scrolls, courtesy of modder Kevin “Trainwiz” Brock. Known for his infamous modification that brought the beloved children’s character to Skyrim, Brock has now turned his attention to Morrowind, delivering a defiant message to corporate lawyers in the process.
Announced via a Bluesky post, Trainwiz’s latest creation replaces Morrowind‘s notoriously annoying Cliff Racers with Thomas the Tank Engine. This move comes despite previous legal skirmishes with Mattel, the company holding the rights to the Thomas brand. “I am incapable of learning lessons whenever it involves corporations, because I fundamentally do not view toy company CEOs or media CEOs as people,” Brock stated, underscoring his unapologetic stance.
Brock’s history with Thomas mods is well-documented. He was the original creator behind the viral Skyrim mod that transformed dragons into the blue locomotive, a move that drew the ire of Mattel. Speaking to The Face in 2019, Brock revealed the extent of the corporate pushback: “Mattel pretty much want me dead at this point – it’s the reason why the Fallout 4 mod can’t be found on any normal website.” He added that a “Macedonian intermediary law firm” cited the mods for “diminish[ing] the brand of Thomas by showing him blowing up.”
Undeterred by past threats, Trainwiz has continued his unique brand of modding, previously bringing Thomas to Starfield, and now completing the circle with Morrowind. On the Nexus Mods page for his new creation, Brock explained his motivation: “In between working on my game and dying of various accidental injuries, I sometimes feel like I need to milk a particular joke until its inevitable demise.” He added, “I will do this no matter how many legal threats, actual threats, black vans with the Mattel logo on them, or severed Barbie heads are mailed to me. This is because I have issues with authority, particularly authority derived from intimidation. I kicked a lot of bullies in the nuts when I was a kid.”
While the Skyrim version replaced dragons, making Thomas an encounter during specific boss fights, the Morrowind mod presents an arguably more unsettling horror. Cliff Racers are omnipresent pests that relentlessly harass players throughout the game’s open world. Replacing them with an infinite swarm of screeching Thomas the Tank Engines transforms every outdoor excursion into a surreal, terrifying chase.
Further escalating the absurdity, the Thomas the Tank Engine Morrowind mod comes in two variants: one that simply replaces the Cliff Racers, and another that integrates a separate mod, causing two Thomas engines to spawn for every one defeated. This ensures a truly inescapable Thomas-fueled nightmare, cementing Morrowind‘s status as a profoundly strange, and now delightfully horrifying, Elder Scrolls experience. Brock’s casual release of the mod, years after initially creating it, only adds to the legend of this defiant modder.