Billy (Thomas & Friends)



Billy is a tank engine whose sole appearance is the episode "Don't Be Silly, Billy" from Season 11 of Thomas & Friends. He is a orange tank engine that was brought by Sir Topham Hatt to help with the workload on the Island of Sodor at the time. He has been hated by fans and critics of Thomas and Friends for his rude behavior.

Why He's Really Useless

 * 1) He is another one of those one-off characters in the HiT model era who was only made for merchandising.
 * 2) He is very rude to Thomas just because he was telling him to get some coal and water.
 * 3) He is very irresponsible, impulsive, and wants everything to go his way.
 * 4) His line "Stop telling me what to do Thomas, you're a very bossy engine!" gets really repetitive and annoying really fast. Especially since he said it five times throughout the episode.
 * 5) His face design looks rather ugly.
 * 6) His bio even says that he and Charlie are brothers, and that's definitely saying much!.
 * 7) He kept running off, leaving his trucks behind every time Thomas told him to take on coal and water.
 * 8) He gives a terrible moral to kids: "it's okay to disobey orders".
 * 9) He is very spoiled and annoying.
 * 10) Considering that he only appeared in one episode, like with most HIT-era characters, his only purpose was to sell toys, merchandise, and nothing more.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Billy has a neat design.
 * 2) Unlike Charlie, Billy received karma for his actions as he ran out of water after a while.
 * 3) The idea behind Billy is interesting as he is meant to be like a Hillibilly-like engine.
 * 4) Thankfully, after "Don't Be Silly, Billy", Billy is never seen nor mentioned ever again, though he was originally supposed to return in Season 13.

Reception
As stated above, Billy's character was met with negative reception due to his rude behavior. Because of the negative reception that Season 11's "Don't Be Silly Billy" had received, Billy had never appeared again.

Trivia

 * Billy is based on a Manning Wardle L Class 0-6-0ST. Charlie, another infamous character in the series, is another engine of this basis.