Character Builder was a range of foam toys released by MV Sports and Leisure. The toys would be assembled by the user and featured a variety of characters and locations.
Overview
Character Builder was a range exclusive to the United Kingdom, sold in 2005 and discontinued at an unknown point in time. Everything in the range including engines, track, and destinations are made almost entirely of foam, save for parts of the wheels, axles and funnels. The engines are included in sets which come with instructions on how to build the character and their respective location. Various pieces of track are made, most of which can be taken apart or have pieces attached to them that allow them to connect to destinations.
Engines
Figures
Sets
- Engine Shed Set (includes Edward)
- Tidmouth Station Set (includes James)
- Journey Set (includes Percy)
- Engine Set (includes Thomas, Toby, and Mavis)
Trivia
- The engines in the range are largely based on the ERTL toys, even having the same coupling system.
- Despite having this coupling system, it is unknown if any trucks or coaches were ever produced for this range.
- Toby is the only engine to have his funnel be made of foam instead of plastic.
- The Engine Shed, part of Tidmouth Station's platform, and the bridge included in the Journey Set are the only known items in this range to have weathering applied to them.
- The station building in the Tidmouth Station set is actually Tidmouth Hault.
- Despite the incorrect name it is given, the set still includes stickers for signs reading "Tidmouth Hault".
Gallery
Engines
Figures
Sets
| Die-Cast Toys | ERTL (1984-2004) | Thomas Engine Collection Series (1992-2005) | Take Along (2002-2009) | Interactive Learning Railway (2004-2005) | Tomica (2004-present) | Diecast Metal (2009) | Take-n-Play (2010-2016) | Collectible Railway (2014-2019) | Adventures (2017-2018) | (TrackMaster) Push Along I (2019-2021) | Push Along II/Metal Collection I (2021-2025) | Metal Collection II (2025-2026) | Metal Collection III (2026-present) | |
|---|---|---|
| Wooden Toys | Wooden Railway I (1992-2017) | Brio (1996-2000) | DanJam Toys (2005) | Woody Capsule Series (2005) | Wood (2017-2021) | Wooden Railway II (2022-2025) | |
| Motorised Toys | Plarail (1992-present) | Tomy Trains (1992-1998) | Motor Road and Rail (1998-2007) | TrackMaster I (2007-2014) | Motorized Railway (2014-2019) | TrackMaster II/Motorized I (2014-2021) | Motorized II (2021-2025) | Motorized III (2025-2026) | Motorized IV (2026-present) | |
| Model Trains | Hornby (1985-2018) | Lionel Trains (1993-present) | Tomix Trains (1998-2021) | Bachmann (2002-present) | Märklin (2006) | Kato Precision Railroad Models (2024-present) | |
| Building Block Toys | Lego (2005-2009) | Mega Bloks (2009-2018) | Diablock (TBC) | Nanoblock (2023-TBC) | Tomica Plarail Block (2026-present) | |
| Miscellaneous Toys | Nakayoshi (1995-2013) | Tsunagete Collection (1995) | My First Thomas (1996-2010) | Capsule Plarail (2000-present) | Collect Thomas (2001-2002) | Choro-Q (2002-present) | Pocket Fantasy (2002-2012) | Discover the World (2003-2006) | Character Builder (2005) | Pico Pico (2006) | Square Rail Collection (2006) | Minis (2015-present) | Rail Rollers (2015-2017) | Mashems (2016) | Rail Rumblers (2016) | Railway Pals (2017-2019) | Diapet (2018-TBC) | Hero (2020-present) | Maruka (TBC-present) | |









