Thomas revealed

[porphyry]

Even a cursory reading of the Thomas the Tank Engine television series will reveal that the steam engines that are the main characters are part of an oppressed minority group. The diesel engines on Sodor always taunt and insult them on the basis of their inferiority.

I recently discovered which minority when I saw for the first time an episode narrated by Alec Baldwin. He read the character of James as a cheap stereo-type of the effeminate homosexual. After that it all fits. Steam Engines stand for homosexuals, Diesels for oppressive heterosexists. This explains why there is a reasonable proportion of male and female diesel engine but only two females out of dozens of ‘steamies': Emily and Lady. Those two are obviously drag queens—in Lady’s case its such a give-away: not only the name but the purple and gold colour scheme.

Consider also that ‘Sodor’ is composed of the –or Latin actor suffix, equivalent to the English –er, while the stem is, well, ‘sod.’

I see that a google search on ‘Thomas the tank engine hentai’ found hits, but I did not dare to look.

Comments

[kellysearsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh my :). I've been prone to read the conflict between the Steamies and the Diesels as mapping onto that of UK supposed native populations and immigrants. The Steamies are associated with dated technology that has a nostalgic appeal, whereas the Diesels are newcomers who keep shaking up the place with their different ways and unwholesome smells. The series' theme of all getting along for the common good is gounded in shared labour and goals for urban, industrial, and land development as well as civic events. But then, of course, given Victorian biases concerning the tendency of immigrant populations to outbreed the British, we shouldn't be surprised if the Diesels have more female engines.

[malkhos.livejournal.com]

Something along the lines of what you suggest has occured to me too--but after I heard Baldwin camp it up I couldn'tresist.