Mattel injecting diversity into Thomas & Friends franchise

New York

THOMAS'S friends are finally getting a little more diverse.

With more than US$1 billion in annual retail sales, Thomas the Tank Engine and his locomotive pals constitute one of the world's largest preschool toy and television franchises. Created in 1946 by a British clergyman, Thomas has charmed generations of boys and girls - especially boys - by teaching gentle life lessons on the fictional island of Sodor.

But the property's old-fashioned sensibility makes some parents angry. In 2014, for instance, an essay attacking the Thomas & Friends series for a lack of diversity, among other things, spread quickly online after publication in The Guardian. Mattel, which bought Hit Entertainment, the owner of Thomas & Friends, for US$680 million in 2012, lists about 100 characters …