| “ | Hello everyone! SmurfyDan here! | ” |
―SmurfyDan's introduction | ||
Daniel Coffey, better known online as SmurfyDan, is an English YouTuber, photographer and an enthusiast of heritage steam railways. Prior to his current YouTube channel, Daniel first joined YouTube under a different username 'NevilleFan' in the Spring of 2006 and started making and frequently uploaded hundreds of videos ranging from fan dubs to YouTube poops. By September 2008, his old YouTube account got suspended for copyright infringement and he created his current account on December 29, where he is now only using to create and upload videos when his chance for creativity comes at the right time.
Other than SmurfyDan, Daniel also created a separate YouTube account devoted to uploading YouTube Poop videos he made under the name 'DanTheYTPMan1' from 2008 to 2015 where his creativity for YouTube Poop videos had run dry for personal reasons. His specialities are photography, video editing and photoshop.
Daniel is very well known for creating two Thomas related projects - 'Steaming to Legacy' and 'The Station Master's Office'.
Content[]
Steaming to Legacy[]
A comprehensively detailed fan documentary film tells the story from the birth of the Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry to the present day of the Thomas & Friends franchise. It splits into twelve chapters ranging in different eras from The Railway Series to the TV series, plus a short documentary story of a similar show devised by David Mitton and Robert D. Cardona in the late 80's called 'TUGS'.
Only eight chapters of the original version were made when Enterprisingengine93, the former narrator, opted to step down for personal reasons by late 2019, and it was decided to give the documentary a whole new look starting from scratch in two separate English dubs for their respective national audience - SmurfyDan for the British version, and GeebMachine for the American version.
The Station Master's Office[]
Inspired from the SiF Facebook and Mel Shiri's Roll Along Thomas blog, this series is known for bringing in present-day news and products from Mattel, Fisher-Price or vice-versa within the Thomas & Friends franchise for fans to be updated ranging from the original TV series, the Railway Series books and All Engines Go, as well as giving honourable mentions to three Thomas fan videos on YouTube each month for viewers to check out.
The Coffey Reviewer[]
A short lived internet reviewing series created by Daniel from 2012 to 2014 where he reviewed cartoon shows and movies. His character is simply himself with a union jack coffee mug. He usually reviewed movies and shows by himself, however he had a one-off collaboration with a fellow Thomas fan named SkarloeyRailway01 for their duo review of Thomas & Friends: Blue Mountain Mystery. As the years went by when the Coffey Reviewer series becoming obsolete, it is unknown when he will be returning.
Miscellaneous[]
Over the years, Daniel had made a variety of Thomas related content including fan dubs, parody clips, YouTube poops, music videos and Thomas product reviews. He would occasionally hosted livestreams - mostly for seasonal Q&As with his friends and audience. Daniel was also responsible for creating a supercut word-reel video titled 'Too Much Thomas' featuring every Thomas episode and special but only Thomas' name was mentioned, and at one time, he interviewed Quanta Films producer Nicholas Jones to promote his Kickstarter campaign for an exclusive high definition blu-ray release of 'The Thomas the Tank Engine Man' documentary.[1]
Trivia[]
- His current YouTube channel used to be called 'BusterTheSteamroller' until early 2016 when he decided to change it to 'SmurfyDan' because he like the Smurfs as well and that his current username is far less mouthful.
- Since he finally joined the Sodor Island Forums by the end of January 2017, he decided to go by 'Mr. Coffey Pot' as coined by one of his friends. Coincidentally, Glynn is a coffee pot engine appeared in Thomas & Friends.
- His favorite steam locomotives are A1 Peppercorn 60163 'Tornado', Flying Scotsman, Stepney, 61306 Mayflower and many others.
- Since December 2014, Daniel started collecting and preserving a small collection of TV screen props used in Thomas & Friends including the miniature garden gnomes that appeared in the sixth series episode 'Percy and the Haunted Mine' and two music videos.
- From September 2017 to March 2019, Daniel worked for the Thomas Creator Collective crew as one of video editors.
- As a voice-over artist, Daniel participated in a variety of Thomas fan projects on YouTube including Enterprising Engines by Enterprisingengine93, T&F by missoliverandblossom and Thomas Mini Series by CraneProductions27.
- He met a variety of well known people including Chris Tennant, Jerry Springer, Jamie Edwards, David Graham, Kerry Shale, Matt Zimmerman, Shane Rimmer, Liz Morgan and many others. In addition, the Thomas voice cast he met in person were Teresa Gallagher, Ben Small, David Badella, Michael Brandon, Mark Moraghan, Glenn Wrage and Sharon Miller.
- From the show's beginning until May 2017, Daniel sent lots of fan letters and packages to ElectricDragon505 as part of his P.O. Box show called 'What's In The Box?'.[2]
- At the age of 11, Daniel traced, painted and sent a very colourful picture (taken from the magazine advertisement of Thomas & Friends: The Big Live Tour) to the CITV's Birmingham headquarters, where it was shown by then presenter Leah Charles-King at the end of a repeat of 'Elizabeth The Vintage Lorry' in February 2003. By the end of the month, he received some goodies courtesy of CITV.[3]
- Daniel was acknowledged in the 2015 edition of Brian Sibley's The Thomas the Tank Engine Man alongside Sam Wilkinson, the Awdry family, Owen Bell and Gyles Brandreth.
- Daniel preserved a complete replica set of the original wooden engine toy of Thomas made for him by fellow Thomas fan, modeller and writer WhitehouseFilms who utilised the same methods and materials for the original toys made by the Rev. W. Awdry.[4]
- On July 6, 2019, Daniel was among over 200 fans to attend a special VIP premiere of Thomas & Friends: Digs and Discoveries at Drayton Manor's 4D Cinema.[5]