Charlie (Thomas & Friends)

Charlie the purple tank engine (0-6-0ST) is a character who appears in the Thomas and Friends franchise. He was created by Sharon Miller and Jo Jordan and was introduced in season 13. He has received negative feedback from fans due to his unfunny jokes, annoying personality, and an overall poor attempt for humor made by HIT Entertainment.

Why He's Not Really Useful

 * 1) His jokes are corny and unfunny.
 * 2) He thinks engines should only play and joke around, which is not true as they must work as well.
 * 3) His comic-relief personality and jokes can get annoying after awhile, even then they are lacking themselves.
 * 4) He is careless, as in "Ho Ho Snowman" he and Thomas are seen shunting trucks at. the. bottom. of. Gordon's. Hill. This is dangerous, as Gordon's Hill is on the mainline, there could have been a crash!
 * 5) He is rude to other engines at times.
 * 6) * In "Ho Ho Snowman", he tricks Henry into thinking he is a talking snowman, which terrifies him.
 * 7) * In "Charlie and Eddie", he says that Edward is too old to be any fun, and doesn't even apologize for that.
 * 8) He is a Karma Houdini, as he never gets punished for his actions.
 * 9) * In "Play Time", he told Thomas to race him which caused Annie and Clarabel to become uncoupled from Thomas and leave Alica Botti and the rest of the passengers behind. Thomas ends up getting scolded by TFC, while Charlie gets off scot-free.
 * 10) Heck, he's even related to Billy who is also another pointless annoying character.
 * 11) He was solely created to sell toys, like with most characters in the HIT and CGI eras.
 * 12) His voice can be annoying (depending on the dub).
 * 13) He sometimes makes pointless appearances in episodes where he serves no purpose in the storyline, with "Splish Splash Splosh" being a great example.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Charlie has a nice design.
 * 2) He became more tolerable in seasons 17-21.
 * 3) He thankfully never appeared again after Counting On Nia.
 * 4) He was at his best in "Not Now Charlie".
 * 5) He apologized to Henry in Ho Ho Snowman.

Reception
Charlie has received very negative reviews of fans and critics of Thomas and Friends alike for his unfunny and stupid jokes, personality, occasional rude behavior, and overall awful attempts at humor. He is considered one of the contributing factors of the series first decline in quality and is also considered one of the worst characters in the franchise.

Trivia

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