ThomasNATION Reviews - Sandy's Sandy Shipment

I'm sure you guys all know the story of 'All Engines Go'. Without going into too much detail, the fandom didn't react well to this new storytelling formula, and soon everywhere you went online, you'd see it: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, you name it, they were ticked beyond belief. But now that the fandom's flames of hatred for this controversial reboot seem to have settled down for now and now that some time has passed since the first season wrapped up, are their views still valid? Let's find out as we dive into another episode of the confusing world of 'All Engines Go' with Sandy's Sandy Shipment...oh, I get it, she's Sandy: that's her name, she's also covered in - yes!

SANDY'S SANDY SHIPMENT: When Sandy learns about a massive shipment of sand that needs to be delivered, she is determined to help despite her size

Unlike Kana who started out surrounded by massive controversy but soon had a lot of fans warming up to her when she finally got her chance to shine, Sandy on the other hand is still a reboot exclusive character that's wallowing in the mud of her own controversy: not that she's a bad character or anything - far from it actually - since she weirdly fits in from an aesthetic standpoint much like Kana did as we've never had a rail speeder type of character in the world of 'Thomas & Friends' before. But in terms of her personality from what we've seen so far, there's nothing really that special about her since she's the typical 'full of potential but has a lot of growing to do' type of character who doesn't like the protection she gets from those who are only looking out for her - if anything, she reminds me a lot of Apple Bloom from the first four or five seasons of 'My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic' who went through a similar character arc! So while Sandy may not be that interesting of a character, she's not as bad as some people have made her out to be. And hey, at least that big fandom controversy about Sandy being Carly's daughter was finally put to rest by the production team - besides, how exactly do trains procreate? But we don't need to get into that discussion again. With all of this in mind in regards to my thoughts on Sandy as a character, how does that play a part in her second starring role in the reboot...will it make fans learn to accept her or continue to hate her more?

Unlike Sandy's last starring role earlier in the season with 'The Biggest Adventure Club' where it overall still felt like a big adventure even if her plot sounded very familiar, this time however just recycles her 'full of potential but has a lot of growing to do' personality again to the point where it makes the episode drag and become completely boring. Granted, this episode does have its moments of entertainment like Sandy showing Thomas all the fun things to do in the sand during the opening where I actually found myself quoting an iconic SpongeBob SquarePants line about his friend Sandy from 'No Weenies Allowed' (and yes, I do mean the one at the start of the review) and while it is true that traditional storytelling even in the original 'Thomas & Friends' series was setting up a character as well as sending them on their journey and learning more about them through their journey, here's the problem: 'Sandy's Sandy Shipment' is just chess piece storytelling: character goes here, character goes there, character says this, pawn to king four. So in this episode that should've been the emotional pinnacle of our main character, it's just more nonsensical kiddie fodder explaining about what happened rather than why it happened. So you pardon me if rather than be concerned when Sandy spoils Thomas' delivery of sand which was on its way to Whiff's Recycling Plant, I ask that you remind me what you revealed about her that's worth giving any investment whatsoever. This isn't me being angry that it's different from the original series, this is me being angry that it's missing the most essential element of telling any story: if the character can never express any emotion, why should the audience ever express any emotion? But yes, while we're on the subject, that does make this possibly one of the worst episodes of the reboot. A franchise that created such memorable characters, characters you almost believed were real, you wanted to be real, you wished they were real, being portrayed as the most stock, boring, empty vessels of just corporate mandated garbage is about as insulting to an adaptation as you can get. By gosh, it's one of the few times I'm glad the characters I love so much aren't real - could you imagine them actually seeing how they would be represented in reboot form? I'd personally cringe. I mean, really, Sandy?