Thomas first appeared in The Railway Series books by the Reverend W. Awdry in the 1940s and became widely known through the television series Thomas and Friends, which began in 1984. His design, a small blue steam locomotive with a face on the front, made him instantly recognisable to generations of children. Online, that familiar image is often reused for absurdist humour, and a flat voiceover stating the obvious about being a train with a face fits meme edits, remixes and reaction posts that play on nostalgia and deadpan delivery.