Skyrim modder defies lawyers, adds Thomas the Tank Engine to Morrowind

The enduring legacy of a particular video game modification continues to grow, as the creator responsible for inserting Thomas the Tank Engine into Skyrim has now brought the unsettling locomotive to Morrowind. Despite facing significant legal pressure from Mattel, the toy corporation that currently holds the rights to the Thomas brand, the modder shows no signs of stopping his unconventional creative pursuits.

Kevin “Trainwiz” Brock announced his latest project on Bluesky, stating, “I made a mod that replaces cliffracers with Thomas the Tank Engine.” He openly admits to a disregard for corporate authority, adding, “I am incapable of learning lessons whenever it involves corporations, because I fundamentally do not view toy company CEOs or media CEOs as people.”

This is not Brock’s first encounter with legal challenges over his mods. He previously recounted how his Skyrim Thomas mod led to serious trouble. “I got in so much trouble,” he explained in a 2019 interview. “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 described receiving a cease-and-desist from a law firm that objected to Thomas being shown exploding, curiously omitting any complaint about the character’s violent acts against people.

Undeterred by past legal threats, Brock has continued his series of Tank Engine modifications. After creating a similar mod for Starfield, he has now turned his attention to Morrowind, the classic Bethesda title that helped define the studio’s signature open-world style.

On the Nexus Mods page for his new creation, Brock elaborated on 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 wrote. He vows to continue “no matter how many legal threats, actual threats, black vans with the Mattel logo on them, or severed Barbie heads are mailed to me,” citing a long-standing personal issue with authority figures and bullies.

In some respects, this new mod creates an even more harrowing experience than the Skyrim version. The original mod used dragon models as the base for Thomas, meaning the terrifying train only appeared during specific boss encounters. Morrowind’s cliff racers, however, are infamous for constantly harassing players throughout the game world. Replacing these ever-present flying nuisances with Thomas the Tank Engine means players will find themselves perpetually pursued by an endless stream of locomotives.

Brock has designed the mod to amplify the chaos, offering two distinct variants. One simply swaps the cliff racer models for Thomas, while the other incorporates an additional modification that causes two Thomas models to spawn for every one the player eliminates. This effectively turns the already strange world of Morrowind into a surreal nightmare, though the modder’s laid-back attitude provides a strange sense of comfort amidst the madness.

Reflecting on the mod’s long development, Brock noted, “I actually made this years ago but never released it, but then I realized that I don’t particularly care anymore.” His persistent defiance in the face of corporate pressure has cemented his status as a unique figure within the gaming community, championing a form of creative expression that many find both baffling and brilliant.

(Source: Games Radar)