BrickLink Designer Program Ongoing Discussion Thread

[RichardGoring]

I've seen a few 'influencer' things on series 9 and they're all so positive, which I really don't understand. The hype train surrounding BDP is tiresome. It was tiresome in series 1 and is even more so now.

[Yperio_Bricks]

I really like the Woodbrick Freight Depot 

If I could go into a shop an buy it, I'd get it but I am too lazy for the BDP shenanigans and will probably never get any of the sets. Same for the Art Factory 

Does Lego provide the BDP set instructions on their website like they do for regular sets?

[icm]

None of the Series 9 selections interest me, so that's simultaneously disappointing and relieving.

[DonQuixote]

I expected a Kraken castle 

[Yoggington]

2 hours ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

Does Lego provide the BDP set instructions on their website like they do for regular sets?

Not on their site, but on Bricklink yes.

So you can see the Series 5 instructions here with each model. No Art Factory (series 6) yet, as it's not yet shipped/finalised.

https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-5/main.page

Edited November 22, 2025 by Yoggington

[Lord Insanity]

Wow, The Fisherman's Village is probably my new favorite bricklink designer program set so far.  It's everything I have ever wanted in a "harbor" set.  With the newer crowdfunding format they have been using, I should be able to actually order one too.

Ironically, Woodbrick Freight Depot is probably my new second favorite bricklink designer program set so far.  I have wanted a freight train station since I was a kid and got 7722 for Christmas.

Those are the kind of everyday life "town" sets I wish Lego still made as regular sets but with modern parts pallets.

[Artanis I]

8 hours ago, Yperio_Bricks said:

Does Lego provide the BDP set instructions on their website like they do for regular sets?

These sets don't come with printed instructions, you have to download the pdf (which you can print if you like) or use some app.

 

6 hours ago, DonQuixote said:

I expected a Kraken castle 

Same. Bizarre.

[MAB]

18 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

Fisherman's village competes with the Italian Riviera and doesn't come out that well. And neither of them are as good as the original Italian Riviera idea/submission.

 

Given the timescales for production, I doubt they compete for sales!

11 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

I've seen a few 'influencer' things on series 9 and they're all so positive, which I really don't understand. The hype train surrounding BDP is tiresome. It was tiresome in series 1 and is even more so now.

"Hey, look I'm really positive about BDP. How about giving me the sets to review?"

[RichardGoring]

1 hour ago, MAB said:

Given the timescales for production, I doubt they compete for sales!

"Hey, look I'm really positive about BDP. How about giving me the sets to review?"

Ha! True. On both counts. Sigh.

[Yperio_Bricks]

5 hours ago, Artanis I said:

These sets don't come with printed instructions, you have to download the pdf (which you can print if you like) or use some app.

 

11 hours ago, Yoggington said:

Not on their site, but on Bricklink yes.

So you can see the Series 5 instructions here with each model. No Art Factory (series 6) yet, as it's not yet shipped/finalised.

https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-5/main.page

Thank you both  

[hikouki]

There were so many fantastic castles there and they could not even give us one???

[Yoggington]

Prices are up for BDP Series 7. I believe that also means the designs are now finalised, although I'm a little uncertain of that.

• Frigate €350
• Robot €40
• Sushi Shop €280
• Alchemist €200
• Antiques €110

I'm not sure how to see the non-EU prices, but you can see your locality at this link: https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-7/main.page

For myself, the only one I was really considering was the Sushi house, but that's about €50 more than I was willing to spend. All the more cash saved for Series 8, where I'm likely buying multiple sets.

[Artanis I]

$329 when all I want are the minifigs anyway - that's what normal Bricklink is for. Series 7 is going to be a 'pass' for me.

[icm]

Series 10 voting is open. There are a fair number of resubmissions this time, but not nearly as many Castlemax entries as last time. I think the lack of a Castlemax selection for Series 9 kind of took the wind out of the sails of a lot of potential Castle designers. Here's my "like" and "love" list this time, ordered from lowest to highest number of parts. On the whole I think the Series 10 entries, especially the large ones, are of lesser quality than the Series 9 entries.

Like:

1. Medieval Peasant Hut https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/4186/Medieval-Peasant-Hut
2. Flame Monster https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/3878/Flame-Monster
3. Grandpa's Biplane https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/4066/Grandpa's-Biplane
4. Scout and Survey Explorers https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/4190/Scout-and-Survey-Explorers
5. Post Office and Stagecoach https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/3856/Post-Office-&-Stagecoach
6. Lifeguard Tower https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/3770/LIFEGUARD-TOWER
7. Medieval Cog https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/4312/Medieval-Cog
8. Flying Scotsman https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/4108/Flying-Scotsman:-Class-A3-Steam-Engine-(British-Railways-livery)
9. Bay of Plenty https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/4033/Bay-of-Plenty
10. Oakwatch Tower https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/4288/Oakwatch-Tower
11. Planetary Outpost 79 https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/4303/Planetary-Outpost-79
12. The Prisoner https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/3683/The-Prisoner
13. Plunder Prison https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/3873/Plunder-Prison
14. The Old Garage https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/3782/The-Old-Garage
15. Medieval City Gate https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/3867/Medieval-City-Gate
16. The Training Ground https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/4368/The-Training-Ground
17. Spice Galleon https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/3844/Spice-Galleon
18. The Northern City Gates https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/4313/The-Northern-City-Gates

Love:

1. Shipwreck Scavengers https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/4281/Shipwreck-Scavengers
2. Triplane Landing Field https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/4009/Triplane-Landing-Field
3. Golden Age Aviation https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/4224/Golden-Age-Aviation
4. Medieval Tournament https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/4158/Medieval-Tournament
5. All Terrain Hybrid Racer https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/4283/All-Terrain-Hybrid-Racer
6. Merchants Wharf Cog and Crane https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/4339/Merchant's-Wharf:-Cog-&-Crane
7. Fort Huck https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/3974/Fort-Huck
8. Japanese Castle https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/4291/Japanese-Castle

Edited 12 hours ago by icm

[Yoggington]

Lesser quality is a good way to put it. I've slogged about halfway through the lot and I'm yet to find a 'love it'. 

[Wolfpack]

With 600 entries it is not easy to inspect them all, but there are some entries I like.

From fantasy there are Elven Academy, Dark Village and Skeleton Fortress. Those kind of sets I would buy, but I doubt they will be chosen.

Western is strong again, especially Fort Huck and there are also some smaller builds like The Barber & the Photographer. The station is also back.

Pirates have The Volcano Hideout and Last Stand, beatiful builds, but I doubt the set with this size will be chosen again.

Paradisa has some nice smaller builds utilising the new torso, especially Ice cream truck.

Of buildings I must mention Empire Station by jazlecraz. Also some winter villagesque sets might have a chance, I like Santa workshop.

I love ancient roman warship, but I wish such sets would be put in the history/period category, which is again very small and mostly dissapointing.

There are some nice castles (no suprise there), but I like the most The Joust, The Training Ground and Ambush. Hydra Shipyard is also back.

Maybe there is finally time for a classic space set, there are some nice submissions. My favourite would be Lunar Cargo train.

In the end I most mention Polar Nomads. Not the technically best build out there, but it is like watching old Arctic sets from 2000 catalogues.

I would not say the overall quality is "lesser", but the palette is limited and we already had nine series. It is not easy to impress.

If they want to utilise the new torsos from the vending machine, this is probably the last chance to do it.

[RichardGoring]

There are so many entries! I'm going to try and look through, but it's somewhat overwhelming.

[Yoggington]

I found one I really do love; 

https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/4368/The-Training-Ground

It's so cleanly done, and so different from the usual Castle fare. Not perfect, the tower is a bit odd, but by gum I'd buy that in a heartbeat. Lovely silhouette, great use of colour, fantastic access - just all round brilliant.

[Lyichir]

Just went through the projects myself, found several I liked.

The Kraken Knights continue to be a popular faction for creators. My favorite new project for them is the Hydra Shipyard, which looks very distinctive and has some nice details and play features.

In terms of Space projects, the Deep Space Research Cruiser is extremely nice looking even if it's probably bigger than I'd like to commit to. IIRC there was a similar project (probably by the same creator) in a previous round, but this one's research focus and more consistent sci-fi aesthetic appeals to me more.

Brickston High seems like a quite cute City-type project, really colorful and appealing.

The Maple Sugar Shack is a project that just looks like it'd be a nice and clean display piece.

I saw a couple smaller projects I liked: Moonlight Flight and Kraken Attack both have very nice shaping while probably being an easier price to commit to than larger projects.

There's a few projects I liked from previous series, like Countryside Farmhouse, Canal Houseboat, and Vikings of Krakheim.
 

[RichardGoring]

There are so many that I like (but still less than 10%). Some are repeats/variations, and I've tried to give more weight to the ones with smaller piece counts (or discounted ones that were just going to be too expensive.

As other have said, the Training Ground is pretty awesome and a great looking model. I hope this is the castle set that's chosen - [The Training Ground] [BrickLink]

Followed closely by this, which is so charming - [Moonlight Flight] [BrickLink]

 

Medieval civilians | [Medieval Stonemasons Guild v2.0] [BrickLink] I bought the original Stonemasons Guild from the MOC pop-up store and loved it, so hope this can make it. Or the full thing - [Medieval Cathedral] [BrickLink]. [Deep Forest Headquarters] [BrickLink] is possibly a bit too fantasy for many, but I love the chaos of it.

Wizard Tower | [Dark Wizards Keep] [BrickLink] - Not as tall as others, but the floating effect is great. [Wizard's Tower] [BrickLink] has a lovely shape. 

Kraken Knights | [Hydra Shipyard] [BrickLink] - Probably my favourite of the Kraken Knight options. [Tentacles in Raft] [BrickLink] - But I rather like this small little build with a fun function too. [Watchers of the Midnight Sea] [BrickLink] - And this is pretty ominous too. It's hard to choose.

Griffin Knights | [Crimson Isle] [BrickLink] | [Crimson Isle] [BrickLink] I cut down all but one of the Griffin Knights options due to repetition, lackluster interior, or size. And although this is huge, it seems to have enough presence to warrant it.

Wild West | [Fort Huck] [BrickLink] - It's large, but a nice looking fort with variety of content and styles. [Wild West Train Station] [BrickLink] - This would be great to add to the other buildings and for the trains in previous series. [Sunset in San Gelo - Western Scene] [BrickLink] - The many secret parts of this tipped me over the edge. [The Barber & the Photographer] [BrickLink] - I liked the range of things in this one and the brick-built vultures are great.

Monster Fighters | [The Dark Village] [BrickLink] I liked this last time, although I'd worry about the cost of it.

Space | Who doesn't love space pirates?! [Yellow Bee - A Space Pirate Adventure] [BrickLink] and [Black Beacon and Yellow Bee - A Space Pirate Castle Story] [BrickLink]. I also rather liked the 50s space vibe of this - [The HELMET - a 50's space diner] [BrickLink]. And this - [The Space Café] [BrickLink].

Steampunk | [Steampunk city] [BrickLink] looks pretty cool and the attention to detail on the base makes me think the rest will be great. [The Cloudbreaker] [BrickLink] is a cool machine to go with it. [Sky Pirates] [BrickLink] is just fabulous, but it didn't make it las time.

Cyberpunk | [Cyberpunk City] [BrickLink] The rendering lighting may be doing some of the work here, but it feels really good. As does this - [Jungle Planet Islanders] [BrickLink]

Trains | [Signal Box - Brickingham] [BrickLink] is a lovely, small-ish addition. [Steam Locomotive] [BrickLink] mostly I like the dark green colour, but bonus points for planned motorization.

Christmas | [Family gathering at the Winter Cottage] [BrickLink] - The roofline is great and I voted for it last time.

Buildings | I always like Bricky_Bricks designs and think they will be a fun build - [The Old Garage] [BrickLink] and [Coastal Base] [BrickLink]. [Firehouse] [BrickLink] - love the colours of this and the engine. [Grand Victorian] [BrickLink] and [Queen Anne Victorian] [BrickLink] are great houses but would likely be very expensive.

Miscellaneous that caught my attention | [Silverwood] [BrickLink] - I suspect it won't get chosen, but it feels elegant. [Anatomy of The Human Heart] [BrickLink] - Likewise, won't get chosen, but I think it's great. [Art of Japan] [BrickLink] - And this is another really elegant design. [The Moon: One Giant Leap for Mankind] [BrickLink] - And this.