Bricklink Designer Program 2021 Discussion Thread

[Another Brick In The Wall]

Offical Link: https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/introducing.page

Round 2 Projects - Crowdfunding Phase

• Mountain Windmill
• Modular LEGO Store
• Seasons in Time: Calendar 
• Retro Bowling Alley
• Brickwest Studios
• Ruined House
• Clockwork Aquarium
• Quest Builder
• Science Adventures

ROUND 1 [CLOSED] 

• CASTLE IN THE FOREST
• GREAT FISHING BOAT 
• SHERIFF'S SAFE 
• PURSUIT OF THE FLIGHT 
• KAKAPO 

NOT FUNDED:

• BIONICLE LEGENDS
• PARTICLE ACCELERATOR

REJECTED DURING TEST BUILDING PHASE

• ANATOMINI 

• CROWDFOUNDING PROJECTS
• SPACE TROOPERS [Digital Modelling]  2,622 parts
• 1950's DINER [Test Building]  1115 parts
• TRAIN STATION: STUDGATE [Test Building] 3885 parts  
• WORKING WATERFALL [Test Building] 2150 parts
• EXPLORATORIUM [Test Building]  3173 parts
• VENETIAN HOUSES [Test Building] 3672 parts
• WINTER CHALET [Test Building] 2682 parts
• QUEST BUILDER [Test Building] 3347 parts
• MODULAR CONSTRUCTION SITE [Test Building] 3457 parts  
• MOUNTAIN VIEW OBSERVATORY [Test Building]  ???? parts

 

 

Edited September 1, 2021 by Another Brick In The Wall
news update

[Legochaek]

I thought it was 7 every round from now on

[Vilhelm22]

The Mountain View Observatory has not been cancelled as your post implies, but is simply too complicated to have been tested completely before Round 1 - it will appear in a later round.

AFAIK there will be 2 more rounds, but I kinda expect them to increase that to 3 as it would be 7, 6, 6, rather than 9, 10.  @Lego-fire you are right, but it's only five from each round that are made into sets.

Not to slam all the Bionicle fans out there, but the fact that a Bionicle set has failed to get past even the Bricklink Designer Program will tell LEGO a lot in their eyes - I think they'll be even less willing with this information to bring it back.  I know there are many AFOLs in favour of it, but with this I don't rate its chances.

[zinnn]

No pirates :(

[RichardGoring]

2 hours ago, Vilhelm22 said:

The Mountain View Observatory has not been cancelled as your post implies, but is simply too complicated to have been tested completely before Round 1 - it will appear in a later round.

AFAIK there will be 2 more rounds, but I kinda expect them to increase that to 3 as it would be 7, 6, 6, rather than 9, 10.  @Lego-fire you are right, but it's only five from each round that are made into sets.

Not to slam all the Bionicle fans out there, but the fact that a Bionicle set has failed to get past even the Bricklink Designer Program will tell LEGO a lot in their eyes - I think they'll be even less willing with this information to bring it back.  I know there are many AFOLs in favour of it, but with this I don't rate its chances.

If they split the remainder into three rounds instead of two, they would probably have to reduce the number of sets produced from each round. Their original intent was to make up to 15 sets. Five are now accounted for. And given the delays for round 1 sets and even longer timeline for the round 1a sets, it might be 2023 by the time they can produce additional sets. Also, it would mean that only four of the remaining sets likely wouldn't get produced, so at that point, why bother limiting it to a certain number? It should be everything that reaches 3000 orders.

I don't care for Bionicle (that is, no feelings about it either way), but many will say that the set wasn't anything close to Bionicle. It was a very large System set (about Bionicle) rather than the classic small Bionicle set, that they loved. And I would hope that LEGO would realize this. However, I don't think Bionicle is coming back because of the moulds.

[Modal]

Patiently waiting for Train Station and Windmill

[RichardGoring]

The more I look at some of these, the sadder I get at the fact that some of them likely won't be made. They're so good.

[Another Brick In The Wall]

If people can tell me the status of the three available Round 1 projects in their region I will included it in the introductory post.

 

 

19 hours ago, Vilhelm22 said:

The Mountain View Observatory has not been cancelled as your post implies, but is simply too complicated to have been tested completely before Round 1 - it will appear in a later round.

Thank you for the correction.

[Legochaek]

15 hours ago, Another Brick In The Wall said:

If people can tell me the status of the three available Round 1 projects in their region I will included it in the introductory post.

 

 

Thank you for the correction.

They are all available in the U.K. 

[jessemast]

Big fan of Mountain Windmill and The Castle in the Forest.

friday night funkin

Edited June 30, 2022 by jessemast

[Another Brick In The Wall]

On 8/18/2021 at 7:24 AM, Lego-fire said:

They are all available in the U.K. 

It's funny when there are limits of 1 set per person how sets don't tend to sell-out. Even Great Fishing Boat was available for at least 24 hours on the second offering. 

On 8/17/2021 at 5:18 AM, Modal said:

Patiently waiting for Train Station and Windmill

Train Station; Studgate—obviously TLG is not going to reintroduce an old piece for a production run of 10,000 sets.  So I guess they will try to compensate with existing pieces.

Edited August 21, 2021 by Another Brick In The Wall

[RichardGoring]

1 hour ago, Another Brick In The Wall said:

It's funny when there are limits of 1 set per person how sets don't tend to sell-out. Even Great Fishing Boat was available for at least 24 hours on the second offering. 

Train Station; Studgate—obviously TLG is not going to reintroduce an old piece for a production run of 10,000 sets.  So I guess they will try to compensate with existing pieces.

I suspect it's a combination of many have already got theirs and the 1 per person limit. But if they opened up another 5000 castles they'd probably go incredibly quickly once more. The three existing sets all hit the original 5000 limit much more slowly than the other two.

The designers have all been given a set of currently in production elements to work with, and are having to redesign around those. What's the out of production piece in the train station? Is it significant?

[Another Brick In The Wall]

2 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

I suspect it's a combination of many have already got theirs and the 1 per person limit. But if they opened up another 5000 castles they'd probably go incredibly quickly once more. The three existing sets all hit the original 5000 limit much more slowly than the other two.

The designers have all been given a set of currently in production elements to work with, and are having to redesign around those. What's the out of production piece in the train station? Is it significant?

Agreed. 

The transparent dome and the transparent arch pieces are both OOP, AFAIK. I would say they are both integral to its design. 

Edited August 21, 2021 by Another Brick In The Wall

[Vilhelm22]

The train station has been redesigned for the Bricklink Designer Program, all with current parts.  The glass dome pieces are made from the garage door pieces, as seen in Corner Garage.

 

Are instructions for these sets going to be available?  I’d love the train station but won’t have the money - I still need to pick up the roller coaster before the end of the year.

[Another Brick In The Wall]

16 minutes ago, Vilhelm22 said:

The train station has been redesigned for the Bricklink Designer Program, all with current parts.  The glass dome pieces are made from the garage door pieces, as seen in Corner Garage.

 

Are instructions for these sets going to be available?  I’d love the train station but won’t have the money - I still need to pick up the roller coaster before the end of the year.

Interesting. Do you have a picture? 

Is there any precedent for TLG not providing the instructions for sets? 

[RichardGoring]

1 hour ago, Another Brick In The Wall said:

Interesting. Do you have a picture? 

Is there any precedent for TLG not providing the instructions for sets? 

You can see the revised model here - https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/designer-sets-for-adult-fans-of-lego/215385/Train-Station:-Studgate

Personally, I prefer the new version with the garage door pieces. It looks more in keeping with the architectural style. They wouldn't have had such big windows back then, like the original.

The plan is for any sets that don't get made, the instructions will be available to purchase. But they've not said anything about the sets that do get made. The implication is that the instructions are only going to be available to those that have bought the set. Isn't that the same as with the last program?

[Another Brick In The Wall]

10 minutes ago, RichardGoring said:

You can see the revised model here - https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/designer-sets-for-adult-fans-of-lego/215385/Train-Station:-Studgate

Personally, I prefer the new version with the garage door pieces. It looks more in keeping with the architectural style. They wouldn't have had such big windows back then, like the original.

The plan is for any sets that don't get made, the instructions will be available to purchase. But they've not said anything about the sets that do get made. The implication is that the instructions are only going to be available to those that have bought the set. Isn't that the same as with the last program?

Wow very impressive! Thank you. 

Edited August 21, 2021 by Another Brick In The Wall

[Greshi210]

6 minutes ago, RichardGoring said:

You can see the revised model here - 

Until I saw the adapted version I wasn't keen on the original design. But now I think that I must try to get the station as well. What do you think how much this will be? I guess about 250 to 290 €.

[RichardGoring]

9 minutes ago, Greshi210 said:

Until I saw the adapted version I wasn't keen on the original design. But now I think that I must try to get the station as well. What do you think how much this will be? I guess about 250 to 290 €.

That's the kind of price I thought. Probably the higher end. There are some large pieces, although it's mostly hollow, so hopefully not much more than that range.

[MAB]

10 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

The plan is for any sets that don't get made, the instructions will be available to purchase. 

Where does it say they will be available to purchase? I know they have said they will be publicly available, but have they confirmed somewhere it is a purchase rather than free like regular lego sets? The author already gave away instructions for Pursuit of Flight.

[RichardGoring]

2 hours ago, MAB said:

Where does it say they will be available to purchase? I know they have said they will be publicly available, but have they confirmed somewhere it is a purchase rather than free like regular lego sets? The author already gave away instructions for Pursuit of Flight.

I don't know if things have changed on this front, as they have changed other aspects of the program, but they originally said you would be able to buy them.

https://brickset.com/article/58428/lego-launches-the-bricklink-designer-program-and-reveals-31-projects!

---

What will happen to the designs that don't reach the crowdfunding goal or are not among the thirteen quickest to hit their goal?

The remaining projects in the crowdfunding phase that don't become BrickLink Designer Program sets will be sold as digital building instructions only, so that you can still have an opportunity to find your own bricks to build them.

How are fan creators compensated for their ideas?

Fan designers will receive a 10% royalty fee for BrickLink Designer Program sets, while designers of Digital Building Instructions will receive a 75% royalty fee.

---

But I can't find this information on Bricklink anymore. So it may be changed. But would they scrap the idea of compensating the designers?

[Another Brick In The Wall]

Updated original post to include part sizes of the remaining projects.

Yeah, most of these sets are big. I love the Ruined House, but I am not sure I am want to invest 4000 plus parts towards it.   

[timemail]

Region restrictions may have changed as safe is available in Australia again.

[RichardGoring]

Some of those are going to be really large. And some are probably going to be a pain too put together. Shame we can't get reviews on the building experience beforehand. Let's see how much they go for and if any feel as good value as the castle and fishing boat.

[Another Brick In The Wall]

18 hours ago, timemail said:

Region restrictions may have changed as safe is available in Australia again.

Wouldn't surprise if the order limits, region restrictions and production numbers change again for future rounds. 

Edited August 24, 2021 by Another Brick In The Wall