Loz Blocks

A visit to the TTTE Wikia revealed to me that a brand new Thomas construction toyline is coming soon. They are made by a company called ZhenFeng, ZhengFeng or Loz, and it's quite scary how most of the elements used in the prototypes (?) appear to be stolen directly from LEGO. A few of the LEGO counterparts of these elements have already been used in some of the countless LEGO Thomas MOCs I've seen images of. Also, the faces are actually moulded, and not prints, stickers or decals. They are the exact same size and diameter as the parts used for boilers in certain LEGO steam engines, meaning anyone could easily slap them on or use them on their own versions of these characters. Prototype images of Thomas, James, Percy and Emily have been uploaded, and they look fairly decent. However, James and Emily are not as nice looking as the other two, and they could definitely use some improvement. They don't appear to have a coupling system, so I have no idea how they could actually pull any rolling stock. That is, if any will be made.

Thomas:

[spoiler] (IMO the best looking out of all four models. The use of a mug for the headlamp is also quite interesting).[/spoiler]

Percy:

[spoiler] (His wheels appear to be too far apart and the front of his tank should've been green).[/spoiler]

James:

[spoiler] (I feel he should've been given the same funnel design used for Thomas [albeit taller], as well as smaller leading and tender wheels compared to the drivers).[/spoiler]

Emily:

[spoiler] (Note the use of non-train wheels for the drivers. The face also doesn't look like the CGI one).[/spoiler]

I wonder what this means for the Mega Bloks license. Is there a chance that will continue once these versions are sold in stores and/or online? And what could LEGO train builders do with these if they buy them?

One thing that's curious is that only Thomas' image has an actual Sodor background, whereas the others don't. Could they be unlicensed and added to the Wiki by mistake?

i doubt it means anything for megabloks, as these wont be licenced.
they are simply knock offs, both of lego and thomas. no way would mattel have granted licence for these. im willing to bet the finished model doesnt look anything like those images.

search up loz on ebay, and you will see how many companies designs they have ripped off... pokemon, frozen, marvel and dc, ice age, even peanuts and mcdonalds!

What?! That is extremely disappointing. I thought these were going to be legit releases for 2017 or later. I shall report these to whoever put them on the Wikia.

Edit: MIKSOLO? Our very own Miksolo fell for this like I did? I'm sorting this out right away.

[Ucwepn]

These look quite decent and I guess could be motorized to run on lego track.

That's quite correct. Unfortunately, I got too excited thinking they were an official new product line. Spoilers: They're made by a (Chinese) company that's not authorized to use Thomas & Friends

[Ucwepn]

Official or not (I think too many people put stock in if things are original property or 3rd party) I think they look rather good and would be fun builds, I have many non lego sets and I think it adds variety to peoples purchase choices when the original company seemingly holds the license hostage lol.

I do agree they would be fun to build if these designs are to be used for the final sets, especially since they already have the right wheels to be used on track. However, I do think it would be better to buy them just for the faces and/or other parts and use them to improve existing MOCs of these characters. I have a strange feeling these prototypes were built in LEGO Digital Designer, rendered in some other program and edited (Photoshopped?) to make the faces, numbers and splashers. They appear to have been made by talented designers because they use a lot of SNOT for what would normally be done with stickers, decals or prints.

it would be neat to buy them or access the parts lists and then bricklink the parts in genuine lego. i dislike using fake lego, but dont mind using real lego for fake designs, if that makes sense.

be worth getting for the faces, so long as they look as decent in real life.

i only have 2 or 3 small KO lego sets in my collection, little ambulances designed to look like the ones here in colors that lego dont actually make. since that ambulance "company" relies on donations and volunteers to operate, i didnt mind it not being real lego, especially since i once got carted away in the back of one, lol.

I've just discovered a (very talented) LEGO Thomas builder, known on YouTube as "TopHatChronicles" and "B'Station Official". If one were to build his versions of Thomas, Percy and James physically, the faces from these knock offs (as well as decals and pinstriping) would make them look even more impressive than they already are. Pity his building guides are too fast to actually follow them, and that most of the parts used were never even made in these colours.

[Ucwepn]

I had a look at B station official and they do look very good, His way of building seems to use an excessive amount of parts (especially plates) and would be very solid but might be too heavy to motorize too.

That other guy TopHatChronicles I couldn't find his channel lol

I would be happy enough with the loz sets as long as they aren't nano sized.