ThomasNATION Reviews - The Waiting Game
April 18, 2026
It seems in today's world that there are a lot of people who seem to have a problem with bringing a character with a physical difference to the center of attention even if it is only for less than a minute and those same people will say that it is 'disrespectful to kids with special needs and it's offensive'. But shouldn't hiding a character that's different from everyone else be more offensive? Isn't censoring a character with a disability more disrespectful to people who actually might have similar issues? Those kids need representation too, those kids need a character to look up to just as much as any other kid perhaps even more so. I'm reminded of a story about an autistic kid who looked up to Drax from 'Guardians of the Galaxy', he saw someone who acted like he did and was still a hero. Even Julia from 'Sesame Street', kids can see a character like her and say 'hey, she's just like me'. This kind of representation is important for kids especially kids who might already get bullied at school for being different, it gives validation to who they are and the struggles they go through. Here, Bruno is different: he loves schedules and timetables when everything goes to plan, he can flap his own ladders to tell you if he's upset or really excited, he can use his items to show you how he's feeling but he is also a very relaxed character who uses his comedy to get past situations sometimes so the possibility of people censoring Bruno because he happens to look and act different from the other engines could actually be seen as worse than just leaving him be. Do you really believe that Mattel of all companies would be malicious like this? In the end, it's a sad testament to the power of words but it's important to bring up when speaking about Bruno. But enough of talking about Bruno, let's get on with the show!
Now, stories regarding the engines learning about being patient is nothing new when it comes to Thomas the Tank Engine since they have been a thing for the franchise as far back as the original Railway Series books and television series but that doesn't mean it can't still be enjoyable if they can do something new with that concept. Considering how many children and even many adults whether or not they are on the autism spectrum struggle with the idea of patience, it only seems right to have our schedule-obsessed brake car be the one to learn this lesson when an important ship is delayed. So with this being Bruno's final spotlight episode for this season of All Engines Go, have we reached a point where we don't talk about him anymore or is there more to this brake car than what you might think? Well, right off the bat, I love how they humorously acknowledge the whole "mechanics versus engines" conflict that longtime fans have when it comes to who repairs the engines in this reboot as well as having Nia freaking out when her "perfect plan" for deliveries goes awry which leads me to think that someone on the writing team has been listening to the fandom's complaints about Nia as a character. With that said, I love seeing how the engines cope with the sudden delay by finding things that they like to do to pass the time and finding ways to anticipate things in the future whether it be Kana racing around to help ease her stress or even something as simple as playing a game with your friends which thankfully isn't Hide And Peep like it was back during the Hit Era. As for Bruno and him having to learn to wait, you'd think that he wouldn't learn anything about being patient and obsess over schedules yet I'm surprised that he actually does grow as a character here with the help of his friends...even if it meant having to hear the word "mechanic" over and over again to the point where it could be turned into a drinking game by the adult fans...although I don't recommend it. The hangover is not great.
So overall for an episode about waiting that could've dragged on forever, I am amazed at how quickly "The Waiting Game" went by which debatable if the pacing is a bit wonky with this one showed our cast of engines that patience really is a virtue and for that earns this a 3.5/5.
Final Rating: 3.5/5
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