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Mike, formerly known as MikeMike123, is a member of the Thomas Wooden Railway Community who joined YouTube on November 27, 2014. He left YouTube on January 23, 2020, but is still active on Twitter and has expressed interest in coming back to YouTube. He is a former two-time TWRC Champion.

Early Beginnings[]

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One of Mike's earlier profile pictures.

Mike started watching TWR videos around 2009, with channels such as ThomasWoodenRailway, Jamesis5, rboffill, Wooden Railway Reviews, and smudgersirhandel. He started building layouts in his grandparent's basement, with hopes of one day starting a YouTube channel and joining the community. His first venture into social media was actually on Instagram around 2013, when he met several users, one of them being Mainlineengine2. He wasn't very close with Jesse during his time on Instagram, but was hopeful that he could use social media to connect with more members of the community. He eventually joined Twitter in October of 2014, and started to connect with some of the users in the community, like Roman'sTWREmpire and Oliver Duck.

Joining YouTube and Skype[]

The next month, Mike finally created his channel on November 27th, 2014. His first video, a review on Big City Engine, was released on that same day. The very next day, he received a Twitter DM from another user, ThomasFan12341, asking him if he wanted to Skype with him and other members of the community. Seeing this as an opportunity to interact with more users he gladly accepted the offer, soon meeting HiroTheJapeneseTrain, TrainKing James, TEHGJPTDDDO, Crimson2091, LegoLover117, and WoodenRS during late 2014 and early 2015.

Growing Popularity and Early Videos[]

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Mike's old profile picture.

On November 28th, Mike uploaded an update video, discussing his series and what was to come in the future of his channel. His next video came the day after, where he did his first ever unboxing, which he soon deleted, and a layout video came about a week later. Soon after, Mike made a video of a review and unboxing of Samson. His first series kicked off soon after that, and made two episodes, titled "The Great Western Makeover,' and "Porter's Perseverance." Another review, of the Logan and the Big Blue Engines Set was uploaded in early January. Another small series of shorts was started shortly after his Logan Set review. In May of 2015, Mike uploaded his first remake of "A Close Shave."

Tales From Tidmouth Sheds[]

Tales From Tidmouth Sheds was a series that Mike started writing in 2016. Its premiere had been planned, and several titles had been confirmed, but due to a lack of resources and motivation, he ultimately scrapped the series altogether.

Ep. 1: Harwick Bound

Ep. 2: Coal Crisis

Ep. 3: Sudrian Trade

Ep. 4: A Summer Strain on the Skarloey Railway

Ep. 5: Something Arlesdale-related

As of January 19th, 2019, Mike has decided not to write any series at all. None of these episodes will be made or released to the public as of 2019.

Late 2015 and 2016[]

The rest of 2015 was relatively uneventful for Mike, with the exception of being included in a Secret Santa with several members of the community, a tradition that he would partake in for several years. It was also around this time that Mike finally received a camera to use other than his phone. In early 2016, due to a snowstorm that hit their part of the country, Mike, along with HiroTheJapeneseTrain, Roman'sTWREmpire, and TrainKing James decided to do a collaboration project to help finish Season 1 of Matt's series, Sodor Stories. It was titled "The Sudrian Blizzard," and the idea of collaborating became quite popular. In April of 2016, Mike was facing a significant bout of writer's block and wanted to find a way to create content on a more consitent basis. He uploaded his second remake, of Daisy, which was originally going to be the first of many weekly remakes, but the idea was scrapped due to time constraints. After his failure to commit to a consistent schedule, he started thinking of a large solo project, in which he would remake an entire DVD/VHS release by himself, which would be worked on over several months. However, following the success of the Sudrian Blizzard collab, he started to wonder if this large scale project could be better executed if there were several members contributing.

The Beginning of TWRC Collabs[]

One day, during April/May of 2016, Mike proposed the idea of remaking a whole DVD/VHS release to a group of friends, with each member remaking one episode and everyone coming together to piece together the music video. This idea was met with much intrigue, and soon after, Mike, along with LegoLover117, HiroTheJapeneseTrain, Roman'sTWREmpire, TrainKing James, DuncanWoodenRailway, and WoodenRS decided to start planning for a remake collab, the first of which would be of Thomas and the Special Letter. The Thomas and the Special Letter Collab was released a couple of months later on July 23rd, 2016, with Mike remaking the title episode, which became one of his most popular videos. A second collab project, New Friends for Thomas, was released on October 12, 2016, but due to a falling out in July, Mike was not included. As of 2022, there have been many different remake and episode collab projects released over the years, and it can be argued that Mike was one of the first people to think of remaking an entire DVD/VHS with a group of people.

Brief Falling Out[]

For the second half of 2016, Mike was not on good terms with several members of the community due to a falling out that occurred during the summer. It was during this time when he became motivated to work on solo projects. He had a new series planned, with the first episode, "Left to Rust," being written and partially filmed. Unfortunately, this project was abandoned during production. In early December, he was approached by TrainKing James, who asked if Mike wanted to participate in their yearly Secret Santa tradition, as the members of the group were ready to set aside their differences and mend their friendships. Mike gladly agreed, and slowly regrew his relationships with his longtime friends in the community, as well as meeting new friends such as FredCoalCar, MasterOfTheLemons, and MultiGreenThunder. Following the release of the Ultimate Christmas Collab, he was briefly in talks with a large group as a part of a proposed two-part Season 5 collab, but it never got further than the planning stage.

Journey Beyond Sodor: How It Should Be[]

In early 2017, after the trailer for Journey Beyond Sodor was released, Mike was included in a group consisting of HiroTheJapaneseTrain, Roman'sTWREmpire, TrainKing James, MasterOfTheLemons, and MultiGreenThunder. This group was formed in April-May, and the goal was to create a movie on how the members would represent this story, while still staying true to Thomas' roots. Due to personal time restraints, Mike was unable to contribute to the project in any form, although he was still credited in the final production. Everyone else contributed through filming and voice acting, but by the time Mike had time to help, the movie was too far into post-production. Oliver Duck was added in July, and his focus was on music production. The film was released on its own channel on December 30th, 2017. To date, it is one of the most popular fan projects released in the Thomas community, and has been met with mostly-positive reception, although there was backlash as well.

2018-2019[]

Mike remained mostly dormant on YouTube following the release of JBS:HISB. In late 2018, he privated all of his videos, but they have not been deleted. He was included in the Trackside Tunes collab which released on November 22, 2018. Mike started college in August 2018, and thus had very little time to release content. He was planning on making a series of remakes to be release in summer of 2019, but due to summer classes he was unable to release any remakes. He was also included in the Early Years collab, which released during November and December of 2019.

New Channel[]

In the summer of 2019, Mike decided to use a second account from another email account and has since re-uploaded his Thomas and the Special Letter and Percy Takes the Plunge remakes. He had hopes to continue to release new content, although the COPPA guidelines circa November 2019 were ultimately one of the smaller factors that contributed to his departure from YouTube.

Leaving YouTube[]

On January 23rd, 2020, Mike posted a paragraph on Twitter announcing his departure from YouTube. He cited that his life is getting increasingly busy, as he is in college and has devoted all of his free time to studying and spending time with his friends and family. In addition, he mentioned that he has been lacking motivation throughout his YouTube tenure, and the decision was made ultimately to take weight off his shoulders. Also in the paragraph, Mike included that he wouldn't be leaving Twitter, but has purely chosen to leave YouTube.

First Meetup[]

At the end of April and beginning of May 2022, Mike was finally able to participate in his first meetup after almost 8 years of involvement in the community. This meetup was for the Great British Train Show 2022 in Brampton, Ontario, where Oliver Duck, MasterOfTheLemons, and William Politeski displayed their set of Tidmouth from the Railway Series. At this meetup he was able to meet friends such as Oliver Duck, Roman'sTWREmpire, LNERFlyingScotsman, William Politeski, PercySix Miles, TrainKingJames, MasterOfTheLemons, and Eric Drouin.

Late 2022[]

In July of 2022, Mike was involved in a large meetup in Oswego, Illinois. The users involved were Mike, Roman, James, Ted, Will, Miles, Lemmy, Roberto, Chase (ThomasWoodenRailway), Percyno6, Matt (MrMPS2002), WRO, Quinton (TWRProductions4), Parker (TankEngineThomas), and Henry (Crimson2091). While Mike wasn't present for either of the trips to Day Out With Thomas, he helped them build cool layouts and was present for The 2022 TWRC Barbecue. In November, Mike attended the Edison Train Show for a couple of hours and saw Will, Miles, Ted, James, Lemmy and Eric Drouin, as well as meeting Enterprisingengine93 and Jolly Good Idea Films. Additionally, Mike drove up to Ted's house and hung out with Will and Wooden Railway Reviews.

Mike Today[]

As of May 2022, over two years since his announcement to depart YouTube, Mike still interacts with many users through Twitter and Discord. He is still active on social media, mostly sharing music takes and memories of his time in the community. Outside of Twitter, Mike loves to listen to music, particularly classic rock, R&B, and hip-hop, and watching sports; he is a huge New York Yankees, New York Rangers and Buffalo Bills fan. He currently attends the University at Buffalo and is studying Exercise Science. He also loves to spend time with his family and friends, as well as spending time outdoors camping and hiking.

Landmarks[]

50 subscribers - April 5th, 2015

75 subscribers - June 20th, 2015

100 subscribers - December 18th, 2015

200 subscribers - 2017

250 subscribers - 2019

Most Viewed Videos[]

As mentioned previously, Mike privated all of his videos in late 2018 for personal reasons. However, none of his old videos have been deleted and some had accumulated decent view counts at the time of privatization. Here are Mike's Top 10 most viewed videos, unlisted for your viewing pleasure:

10. Customs Video: Garrett, Clive, Dawes, and Nigel (HD Reupload) - 560 views - https://youtu.be/SjZvT6Mufto

9. Layout Video #2 - 971 views - https://youtu.be/OfYYLPME5PE

8. Special Unboxing feat. LegoLover117 & HiroTheJapaneseTrain (Thanks Matt!) - 1,019 views - https://youtu.be/IHNJV_zf_aI

7. Big City Engine Thomas Wooden Railway Review - 1,859 views - https://youtu.be/oed0DZ0rAS8

6. Daisy Remake (RS - UK) - 2,068 views - https://youtu.be/mPdrodLsRUw

5. MikeMike123 - Percy's Ghostly Trick - 2,444 views - https://youtu.be/XR86kESmQG4

4. Percy Takes the Plunge Remake (RS - US) - 2,950 views - https://youtu.be/8_YwXudfkJg

3. Building LEGO Thomas the Tank Engine - 3,032 views - https://youtu.be/LLht7F4aV-4

2. A Close Shave Thomas Wooden Railway Remake (RS, UK) - 7,809 views - https://youtu.be/k-ZJf2dzbUY

1.Thomas and the Special Letter Remake (GC) - 7,835 views - https://youtu.be/kKAFEVSdzfI

NOTE: View totals were counted when the videos were unlisted, January 25th, 2020. Additionally, these videos are marked "not for kids" in compliance with COPPA guidelines.

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