i may be one of the most cc!thomas crit bitches out there but i feel like ppl saying "oh that was one giant ad" rlly dont know how ads work. the crofters thing? that was totally JUST an ad. the first one was a song about the brand deal, the second one was literally multiple separate commercials in one video.

the stuffy video tho? thats how u mix content and advertisement WITHOUT it being intrusive or overpowering. he doesnt even actually mention that you can buy the plushies until the very end of the video. the rest of it just used them as props for the mostly unrelated subject of the video.

idk man maybe its just bc i rlly like the topic of "is it valid for adults to use traditionally childish items for comfort" (spoiler alert: yes it is) so the topic being a good one could be giving me rose-tinted glassed to a degree. but i rlly feel like that was different from like the crofters stuff where its JUST an ad.

did we get serious lore? no, but we didnt get that for the first 3/4 of the first season, either. so maybe its nostalgia goggles too, bc this reminded me a lot of some of the videos where thomas wasnt trying to tell an over-arching plot that never went anywhere. it reminded me of the early days where it didnt have to be about all the lore and drama and it was just some dude asking the parts of himself for advice.

so maybe its rose-tinted glasses bc of the topic, maybe its nostalgia goggles for the less complicated era, maybe it's both, maybe it's neither. but i rlly feel like this was at LEAST better than the crofters videos lol