Merlin

Merlin is the deuteragonist from ThomasTales. He is best friends with Thomas and they host the show together.

## Bio

Merlin has been part of the show since day one, both he and Thomas host it.

Merlin also has his own segments called Goofy Songs with Merlin, where he sings songs that are really goofy. Though Henry didn't like how they often come out.

## Personality

Merlin is kind, funny, forgetful, charming, wacky, cheerful, thoughtful, preposterous, scatterbrained, and energetic, as he is often the opposite to Thomas' and Henry's personality. He also likes to be funny and make people laugh. Though sometimes, people often don't laugh at his jokes. He is also madly in love with Emily.

Merlin has played many various types of characters, including heroes, anti-heroes, and villains. Regardless what role he plays, he's always the same silly engine we know and love.

## Physical Appearance

Merlin is a silver tender engine with a red running board and wheels, and black smoke deflectors. He has red and gold nameplates on either sides. His number is also painted white on his front bufferbeam, the sides of his cab and tender. During the early episodes, he was dark silver until the production to Maya.

In ThomasTales in the Apartment, Merlin gained amber irises and eyebrows.

## Fun Facts

* In ThomasTales Promo: Take 38, Merlin's original voice would later be used for 'Arry's newer voice (which sounds like Ben without the French accent). When Where's Thomas When I'm Frightened? was produced, he had a lower dopey type of voice. He eventually gotten his voice higher after the first two episodes beginning with Are You An Engine?. The lower dopey voice was inspired from an old puppet named Soupy that Tyler Nawrocki used when he was studying in the puppet ministry at Bible college.
* He is the only character to appear in every ThomasTales project and Big Zone production in general.
* A running gag in the series is other characters mistake him as being a tenderlok.
* Merlin had a lisp until James the Kindly Splendid Engine. He wouldn't get it back until The Lost Tooth, though this is because of him missing his tooth. According to Tyler Nawrocki in the audio commentary for Where's Thomas When I'm Frightened?, he just got tired of the lisp and went to speech therapy for a while and got rid of the lisp.
* According to the official Barney website, if he weren't an actor, he would've been an world champion at Candy Land.
* Before Matt Vischer came up with Merlin as an engine, he was going to make him a candy bar. But in the making of making the model, Matt's wife Lisa came in and looked at the image and told him that parents are going to be mad if he makes the kids fall in love with candy bars. So he changed the candy bar to an engine.
* He was at one point going to be called Kooky. But Matt Vischer thought that was too cute and he wanted to use bland names.
* His favorite foods are:
	+ Chicago hot dogs without pickles.
	+ Sardines.
* There's been debate about his last name:
	+ In Monster Manners and Destination: SPACE STATION!, the name "Stealth Engine" is depicted as his last name, but the credits still say "Merlin the Stealth Engine".
* Merlin made his first screen debut in Mr. Cuke's Screen Test, a little animation test done by Matt Vischer in 1991.
* Merlin has three brothers named Thomas, Mark, and Steve, and his dad is an astronaut, as revealed in "Merlin and the Great Railway Show Race".
* He is one of the many characters who have been to jail.
* He is one of the only characters to be harshly beaten up.
* Not only is he the only character to be in all Big Zone productions, but he was literally the first ThomasTales character made. He was created by Matt Vischer in 1991, two years before "Where's Thomas When I'm Frightened?" in a little animation test called "Mr. Cuke's Screen Test" according to Matt Vischer's biography "Me, Myself, and Thomas".
* Merlin has died two times in episodes (stories only) In Merlin and the Great Exit the narrator said that Merlin and his generation passed, he also died in The Payless Princess.
* He always has the fame and is more popular than Thomas, which sometimes makes Thomas mad.
* He plays the sousaphone in the theme song.
* In ThomasTales Promo: Take 38, his voice slightly sounded different and very similar to Iron 'Arry's voice (also voiced by Tyler Nawrocki).
* The only time where he was the villain was in King Merlin and the Truck.
	+ Speaking of which, there also angry letters complaining about Merlin's behavior in that episode.
* In the Netflix series, Merlin now has a high-pitched scream.