Percy is a little green saddle tank engine who was brought to Sodor to help run the railway while Gordon, James and Henry went on strike. He is Thomas's best friend and one of the youngest engines on the North Western Railway and is quite cheeky, often getting himself into trouble with his attempts to play tricks on the other engines. Percy's favourite job is to deliver the mail and he works on Thomas' Branch Line as a goods engine.
He made his first appearance in Pooh's Adventures of Thomas and the Magic Railroad, he helped Thomas, Pooh and their friends find the lost engine Lady before Diesel 10 does.
Biography[]
Percy was probably built by Avonside and had gone through a subsequent rebuild in the years preceding his second-hand sale to the North Western Railway. He is said to have been found wearing Hunslet parts, according to workers at Crovan's Gate.
When Gordon, James, and Henry went on strike in protest of the extra work they had to do since Thomas left to run his branch line, the Fat Controller decided that the railway needed another tank engine. Going to the engine workshop, the Fat Controller saw a green saddle tank and when the engine confirmed he was willing to work hard, the Fat Controller bought him and named him Percy. Bringing him back to Sodor, Percy was charged with running the branch line while Thomas ran the Main Line with Edward and was allowed to stay after the big engines surrendered. At first, Percy liked to annoy the big engines. Percy was later waiting at Tidmouth, but forgot to whistle to the signalman, and thus was startled when Gordon came running towards him with the express. Gordon managed to stop in time, but Percy was so frightened, he ran away, and ended up in a sandbank. He was rescued by Gordon and took up the duty of station pilot at Tidmouth. Percy was still a cheeky engine and often liked to play jokes on Gordon and James, but one day the other engines got their revenge when Percy failed to recognise a "backing signal". After this, Percy was subject to bullying from the big engines until Duck arrived and helped Percy to put the big engines in their place. With Duck's arrival, Percy was sent to Thomas' Branchline to help build Knapford Harbour and has stayed there ever since as a goods engine.
In the seventeenth season, he let Caitlin pull the mail train for him when she was spending the night on Sodor, he was one of the engines who didn't believe at first that Charlie saw an elephant on the line, has been scared by James twice (when James described the phantom express and teased him for being scared of the dark), and helped Bill and Ben when Ben had derailed. He later attended the fireworks display at Ulfstead Castle, slept at Whiff's waste dump while the turntable at Tidmouth Sheds froze, chased Diesel 10 when the diesel stole some garland from the sheds and gave Sidney new wheels as a Christmas present. In the eighteenth season, Percy was bumped by Diesel in the yard, and nearly had an accident involving Toad and Thomas. As the television series has progressed, Percy has been dumbed-down in order to teach viewers difficult words: he would say "dingy-fried" where anyone else would say "dignified".
He is also shown to make silly mistakes, but then fix them upon realizing what he has done before further damage is caused. Percy is incredibly accident-prone and holds the dubious record of the most accidents in one season - five, in the second season - crashing into some buffers, falling into the sea, being pushed onto a brakevan, colliding with a cart, and being hit by a falling crate of treacle. So far, his silliest accident yet was in the sixth season, when he slipped on oily rails, crashed through the chocolate factory, and emerged covered in chocolate. Despite this, he is always tries to do his best, learn from his mistakes, and get his jobs done--a loyalty which Sir Topham Hatt has praised him for on several occasions. Since the second season, Percy has had a small rivalry with Harold, stemming from their race. However, they are always willing to help each other when in trouble. He also had held a grudge from the big engines about their tricking him into misinterpreting a signal, but silenced this with some help from Duck. This shows that, when nonsense goes too far, Percy will not stand for it and seek help to settle the matter for good.
Physical appearance[]
Percy is painted green like Henry and Duck. He has four small wheels, green piston cylinders, a tall black funnel, a short dome and a brass whistle. He also has two round windows on his cab. And he has the number six painted on his coal bunker.
Personality[]
Percy is a rather cheeky, but kind engine. He normally behaves well, yet he also gets himself in trouble by jumping into situations without adequately thinking them through first. He loves teasing other engines, especially bigger ones such as Gordon and James, but is always brought down to earth in due course by anyone who gives him the moral to learn, especially the Fat Controller. He can also be somewhat timid.
Percy can also be questionable and naive to certain difficult words: he would say "dingy-fried" whereas anyone else would say "dignified", "dimmer-station" instead of "demonstration", "inspectacles" instead of "inspector", etc.
Percy is incredibly accident-prone and has many accidents, sometimes due to his own silliness or his tricks backfiring. He holds the dubious record of the most accidents in one series - five; all of which happened in the second series - crashing into some buffers, falling into the sea, being pushed onto a brake van, colliding with a cart of lime and being hit by a falling crate of treacle. His silliest accident to date, however, was in the sixth series, when he slipped on oily rails and crashed through the chocolate factory and emerged covered in chocolate. Despite this, he always tries to do his best, learns from his mistakes and get his jobs done, a loyalty which Sir Topham Hatt has praised him for on many occasions.
Although their friendship has been turbulent at times, Thomas is Percy's best friend. He is also good friends with Toby. While he has a small rivalry with Harold stemming from their race, they are always willing to help each other when in trouble.
Percy can also be seen as an easy target for teasing by the big engines, especially whenever he has an accident or when he is afraid of something. He also has held a grudge from them about their tricking him into misinterpreting a signal but silenced this with some help from Duck. This shows that, when nonsense goes too far, Percy will not stand for it and seek help to settle the matter for good, even if he faces a reprimanding from Sir Topham Hatt for it.
During the CGI series, Percy became wiser, and a little less cheekier. This could be because he learnt his lesson for being cheeky or because he didn't want get in trouble again. In the CGI series, Percy and Thomas' friendship expanded and they hardly ever argued.
Technical Details[]
Percy is an 0-4-0 saddle tank believed to have been built by the Avonside Engine Company of Bristol, but prior to being purchased second or third hand by Sir Topham Hatt he acquired components from Hunslet of Leeds and other builders.
Main Weaponry used in Stuingtion's series[]
Tank Engine[]
- Browning M2 .50 cal "Ma Deuce" Heavy Machine Guns
Trainsformer[]
- Double-barrel Mini machine gun
- Energy Ax
- Energy Mace
- Grappling hooks
- Phaser cannon
- Grenade launcher
Trivia[]
- Percy is the only engine who is known to have been named by Sir Topham Hatt.
- Percy is the first engine in the series to have only four wheels.
- He is also the first character other than Thomas to be the protagonist in a special, with that special being Day of the Diesels, which he would later do again in Tale of the Brave.
- In Thomas and the Rumours, Percy is stated to have a branch line, though it may have been mistaken for Thomas' Branch Line.
- Percy was featured on the 1986 single cover along with Rheneas of Oh L'amour, a song by English synthpop duo Erasure.
- Percy's special friends is Dora, Boots McGee, Gretchen, Squirt & Sunshine.
- Percy met Pooh and his friends in Pooh's Adventures of Thomas and the Magic Railroad.
- Tigger refers to him as "Percy-Boy".
- Percy will be guest starring in Pooh's Adventures of the Elm-Chanted Forest, Pooh and Ash's Adventures of Scooby-Doo: Halloween Hassle at Dracula's Castle, Winnie the Pooh and the Care Bear's Adventures in Wonderland, Pooh's Adventures of Asterix and Cleopatra, Pooh's Adventures of The Harry Hill Movie, Winnie the Pooh and the Legend of the Titanic, Pooh's Adventures of Stardust, Pooh's Adventures of Asterix conquers America, Pooh's Adventures of Legend, Pooh's Adventures of Tentacolino and Pooh's Adventures of Tugs (TV Series).
- Percy will meet Ed, Edd, n Eddy in Ed, Edd, n Eddy's Ed-ventures of Thomas and the Magic Railroad.
- In Stuington and Hiatt Grey's series, Percy is Pinkie Pie's boyfriend.
- In Thomas, Twilight, and The Mummy Returns, Percy will receive M2 Browning machine guns.
- Percy is also best friends with Maud Pie and Cheese Sandwich.
- In Iamnater1225's series, Percy is also Rosie's boyfriend.
- Percy is also A Canterlot Mail Engine.
- Percy will meet Ryan F-Freeman and his team in Ryan's Adventures of Thomas and the Magic Railroad.
- In an early version of the script for A Thomas Promise used for auditions in January 2020:
- Percy is renamed Tom-Tom, in order to keep the series a secret.
- It is revealed that within the series, Percy is eight years old.
- Percy has the second-most appearances of all of the characters, appearing in almost every main episode of the series.
- Whenever Percy's lucky bell is brought up, Percy's vector would switch for a version with a bracket mounted on his coal bunker that connects his lucky bell to his body.
- Percy has two different pitches of his whistle and can switch between them accordingly. He is currently the only character in the series able to do this.
- Percy's favourite colour is green.
- According to the story, Percy's whistle is reused for Rusty's Ghost Engine.