>>78763392There's been whole studies about why people with autism love Thomas the Tank Engine. General consensus from those studies seems to be that while people with autism are generally unable to understand emotions as a result of not being able to differentiate the subtleties in facial features, the trains' faces' large expressive eyes and very obvious and exaggerated expressions make it easier for autists to differentiate what emotions they're conveying.
As a result, Thomas the Tank Engine appears to have significantly more depth than most other shows to them because they're actually capable of understanding the emotions the trains are expressing, something that's lost on them in most other media franchises.
The large expressive eyes appearing more emotive to autists is the same reason that people with autism tend to love Sonic the Hedgehog so much.
