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Background Information[]
Whiff is a fictional standard gauge tank engine created by Wayne Jackman and Simon Spencer.
Whiff made his debut in the second series episode, Stink Monster, which first aired in 2022, and made his final appearance in the 2025 special, Sodor Sings Together.
According to show developer and former producer Rick Suvalle, there were plans for Whiff to make a physical appearance in the first series, however these never came to fruition, most likely because Nelvana did not have the budget to make Whiff's model at the time.[1]
Behind the Scenes[]
2D animated rigs[]
Whiff in All Engines Go uses a series of complicated 2D rigs created by Nelvana Studio. These rigs are made up of different assets, which can be stretched, squashed and posed to create the desired movements and poses. Whiff's movements are handled by an animation team, with a posing team to create specific poses as required for certain shots. Whiff's 2D assets were made using James as a base, with heavy modifications.
Whiff's 2D design has undergone many changes from the design used in the original series:
- His wheels are now black instead of green.
- His dome and window frames are yellow.
- His window frames are noticeably higher up and closer together.
- He lacks the black and yellow borders around his tank edges.
- His tanks are shorter in length.
- He has frame plates similar to James.
- He has a red running board.
- He has three axleboxes protruding from his valences instead of two.
- His axleboxes are also no longer aligned with his wheels, instead slotting between them.
- His stepladders have been replaced with a third set of axleboxes.
- His leaf springs have been removed.
- His brakepipes have been removed.
- He has a more rounded nose.
- His nostrils have been removed.
- He now has brown irises.
- He has a new whistle sound.
Texture Variants[]
In addition to his standard livery, several other texture variants exist of Whiff's 2D model. Many only appeared once, though a few were reused multiple times. These texture variants include:
(Sodor Sings Together)
Voice Actors[]
- Matt Coles (UK)
- Joe Pingue (US)
- Brent Albrecht (US, Sodor Mystery)
- Luke Marty (US, declined)
- Kazuyoshi Hosoya (Japan)
- Dean Fujioka (Japan; The Mystery of Lookout Mountain only)
- Óscar Gamboa (Latin America)
- Guilherme Marques (Brazil)
- Sebastian Perdek (Poland)
- Volker Hanisch (Germany)