Bricklink Designer Program 2021 Discussion Thread

[RichardGoring]

@kbalage does an excellent review of the Old Train Engine Shed as always. Talks realistically about the program, which I appreciate, and gives what I think feels a fair review of the set. I still can't believe how wound up I am about the Solid Brix Studio review nonsense about the BDP LEGO link and the investment potential!

Seeing the set with the Orient Express confirms just how large it is, which clearly justifies the price. But I don't know whether I would ever have enough of a train setup to include this in. It looks great though. Decisions, decisions over the next few days.

It's very helpful of Bricklink to have sent some review copies out. I hope they do it before the other rounds too.

 

[JohnTPT17]

Solid review! I also appreciate that it shows the shed in comparison to some of the locomotives - it's probably a big factor for all of the train enthusiasts looking to get this one.

Also, I found another review - this one a written one about the General Store, curtesy of Brickset: https://brickset.com/article/105883/review-bricklink-designer-program-general-store

And I'm with you, @RichardGoring; these reviews have been really good to help showcase these sets a bit more, as well as spread some awareness about the program. I wonder how many more might trickle out over the next few days...

[Wimmer]

Love the castle, and it would be great to put next to the LKC; and it looks awesome. But it’s too much money I think for what you get. 
The train shed is lovely too, and I’m debating that one. 
Parisian street is nice on the outside but the build is plain and too simple in my eyes, no steps inside to different floors, half the depth of a modular building and not all the details. I would buy the new Modular Museum over this one I think. 
A lot of decisions in the last few days. I know history told us; you only have a few hours to decide come Wednesday, a lot of the other sets didn’t last past a few hours only. 
😬 

[crowe-k]

47 minutes ago, Wimmer said:

Love the castle, and it would be great to put next to the LKC; and it looks awesome. But it’s too much money I think for what you get. 
The train shed is lovely too, and I’m debating that one. 
Parisian street is nice on the outside but the build is plain and too simple in my eyes, no steps inside to different floors, half the depth of a modular building and not all the details. I would buy the new Modular Museum over this one I think. 
A lot of decisions in the last few days. I know history told us; you only have a few hours to decide come Wednesday, a lot of the other sets didn’t last past a few hours only. 
😬

Are they not offering double or triple the amount of sets that are being produced compared to the last go round? I don't feel that rush to purchase this round than in previous rounds but I may jump in early because the castle stands out for me.

[Khargeust]

Is it possible to cancel the preorder during the 6 months of production ?

I can't find the information.

[MAB]

1 hour ago, Khargeust said:

Is it possible to cancel the preorder during the 6 months of production ?

I can't find the information.

Yes

[Lego Tom]

21 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

@kbalage does an excellent review of the Old Train Engine Shed as always. Talks realistically about the program, which I appreciate, and gives what I think feels a fair review of the set. I still can't believe how wound up I am about the Solid Brix Studio review nonsense about the BDP LEGO link and the investment potential!

Seeing the set with the Orient Express confirms just how large it is, which clearly justifies the price. But I don't know whether I would ever have enough of a train setup to include this in. It looks great though. Decisions, decisions over the next few days.

It's very helpful of Bricklink to have sent some review copies out. I hope they do it before the other rounds too.

 

I am not into buildings and the like but this one may well be the exception. It is pretty darn amazing!

[JohnTPT17]

Voting for Wave 4 is now live! Overall... I have mixed feelings. There are a lot of repeated ideas in this wave, either from previous waves, or within the same wave. Lots of Modular buildings, medieval scenes, ships, trains, and nondescript spaceships. Lots of resubmissions from previous waves as well, for better or for worse. After a quick look, here are some of my personal favorites (with a strong medieval love), with no particular order:

• Under 1000 pieces:
  • Either Viking Longship or  Viking Dragon Ship. The designs are very similar (like I say, lots of repeated ideas!), but I think I like the first one a bit more.
  • Automated Side-Loading Garbage Truck. Another one of those "how is this so many pieces?" kinds of sets, but the function is unique.
  • Grand Medieval Joust. Probably one of, if not my absolute, favorite. Reminds me of 10223 without the castle bit, with some clever building techniques with the tree and the chairs. Simple, yet effective!
  • The Medieval Duel Hall. Similar to the one above, but "indoors." Looks like it has some size, despite being only about 900 parts.
• 1-2k Parts:
  • The Market. Another simple medieval set, but I appreciate the good size/cost ratio and the winter theming. 
  • Imperial Sloop 'Neptune.' This one feels like a great love letter to pirates/Imperials, even including attachment points for cloth sails. Another excellent example of having a good set without an overload of pieces, and my other favorite with Grand Medieval Joust.
  • Winter Village Town Hall. The building itself is not very deep, but it still looks very cozy, and would be a good centerpiece for winter setups.
• 2k+ Parts:
  • Countryside Mill & Bakery. There's a bit of a debate of what size to make medieval buildings, but I think this one splits the difference quite well. The ox-driven plow is a great mini-build.
  • Seaside Market. Looks complete on both the "seaside" part and the "land" part. Lots of nice looking sub-areas. 
  • The Riverside Scholars. I know for sure that this one is a resubmission, but I still think it looks good. Would probably be well out of my budget, though. 
  • Imperial Frigate Minerva. A modern recreation of 10210, and it looks beautiful! Well out of my budget, though, which is why I would rather get the Neptune. 
  • Elven Castle. Another gorgeous set, with the only downside it being out of my budget yet again. I really like how it opens in the back,  and the details look very nice.

There might be some that I missed, but those were some of the highlights for me! Anyone else get to early voting?

Edit: I also noticed that Series 7 was soft-announced with this wave! Series 5 submissions are due in May, Series 6 in September, and Series 7 in January 2025. I'm glad that Lego is going to continue to support this program!

Edited February 5 by JohnTPT17

[CroissantBricks]

I hope you'll forgive my shameless self-promotion, but here's the Opera House design we submitted to series 4. It was a lot of fun to design.
Opera House - BDP Series 4

[RichardGoring]

Well, that's a shame, although not entirely unexpected, that the Bricklink site has crashed three minutes before launch of series 1. It was working fine beforehand. Sigh.

[JohnTPT17]

Just came to post about that. You would think they would have been prepared after getting some practice from previous waves, but I guess not.

[RichardGoring]

Actually, the main site works, but the Designer Program site doesn't, and it's gone from the home page. Double sigh.

[JohnTPT17]

I also tried searching for the sets manually on lego.com. You can search the names and set numbers, and they will even appear in the search bar, but it's the same errors if you click on it.

[mark1991t]

https://www.lego.com/cart?product=(put number here) You can use a direct link without using BrickLink, or having a BrickLink-account at all.

910031 is General Store.

910030 is Snack Shack.

910033 is Train Shed. 

910029 is Mountain Fortress.

910032 is Parisian Street.

It worked for me. My link gets them direct in the card. Sometimes you have to wait a couple of seconds before it appears. Good luck  

Edited February 7 by mark1991t

[RichardGoring]

2 minutes ago, JohnTPT17 said:

I also tried searching for the sets manually on lego.com. You can search the names and set numbers, and they will even appear in the search bar, but it's the same errors if you click on it.

Oh really? I tried a search and they didn't come up. Do you have the set numbers?

[JohnTPT17]

Here's links for the US:

Snack Shack: https://www.lego.com/en-us/cart?product=910030

General Store: https://www.lego.com/en-us/cart?product=910031

Partisian Street: https://www.lego.com/en-us/cart?product=910032

Train Engine: https://www.lego.com/en-us/cart?product=910033

Mountain Fortress: https://www.lego.com/en-us/cart?product=910029

You will need to copy and paste those links since they're not formatted correctly, but hopefully that lets you in!

Edited February 7 by JohnTPT17

[RichardGoring]

7 minutes ago, mark1991t said:

https://www.lego.com/nl-nl/cart?product=(put number here) You can use a direct link without using Bricklink at all. 910031 is General Store. 910030 is Snack Shack. 910033 is Train Shed. 

It worked for me. My link gets them direct in the card. Sometimes you have to wait a couple of seconds before it appears. Good luck

OMG, it worked, thank you!

Mountain Fortress is 910029 - https://www.lego.com/en-us/cart?product=910029

Snack Shack is 910030 - https://www.lego.com/en-us/cart?product=910030

Parsian Street is 910032 - https://www.lego.com/en-us/cart?product=910032

Old Train Engine Shed 910033 - https://www.lego.com/en-us/cart?product=910033

I changed the nl-nl to en-us for the USA.

What's the betting that orders placed through LEGO directly and not via Bricklink will be cancelled?

Edited February 7 by RichardGoring

[JohnTPT17]

4 minutes ago, RichardGoring said:

What's the betting that orders placed through LEGO directly and not via Bricklink will be cancelled?

I mean, all that Brinklink does is connect you to lego.com to buy them. I think it should be safe - you've paid for the sets, and they know where to deliver them.

(I hope I'm not wrong though... I need to settle some FOMO and decide what to get now that I have everything in a cart)

[RichardGoring]

I've been going back and forth on this too much. Decided that the castle is the only one that I'd buy if it was an official set, as it goes so well with the LKC and MTS and it's a great base for the Black Falcons. I like the others, but don't have room or complimentary things to go with them.

Round 2 however, I think I want all of them! So really hard decisions there.

[mark1991t]

Quote

What's the betting that orders placed through LEGO directly and not via Bricklink will be cancelled?

I did it this way the last time and I got them before anyone else reported they got them.

Edited February 7 by mark1991t

[JohnTPT17]

I just got the Bricklink landing page to load. Mountain Fortress is about 1/3 of the way funded already, or roughly 1000 copies sold. Snack Shack and Old Train Engine are the runners, up, then the general store, and then Partisian Street. I'm sure everything will be funded, if not sold out, by the end of the say though.

9:28 update: Mountain Fortress about halfway to funding goal.

9:37 update: Lots more orders in. Mountain Fortress about 1/3 sold out, so act quickly!. Snack Shack and Old Train Engine almost funded. General Store a little over halfway there. Parisian Street about 1/3 to funding. 

9:39 update: Either my computer was slow, or Bricklink had an update, but everything is funded. Mountain Fortress close to half. Old Train Engine in second at about 1/5; Snack Shack in third at just under that. Parisian Street and General Store are very close for 4th, at maybe 1/8 sold out.

9:46 update: Mountain Fortress over half. Old Train Engine and Snack Shack still look close, and are about 1/3 sold out. General Store (1/5 sold out) outpacing Parisian Street (no major changes). 

9:54 update: Mountain Fortress about 2/3 sold out. Old Train Engine and Snack Shack a little under half.

10:00 update: Things seemed to have settled a bit, though they are still selling quickly. Snack Shack might have pulled ahead of OTE, but it's hard to tell. I also cracked and ordered a Mountain Fortress and a Snack Shack - I'll have to decide what to do with them once they arrive, but I thought I ought to at least get my foot in the door.

10:05 update: Mountain Fortress about 3/4 sold out. It might be hitting some region limits soon.

10:32 update: Mountain Fortress almost sold out. Snack Shack and OTE both over half, with Snack Shack at a slight lead. General store a little under half. Partisian Street about 1/3.

Edited February 7 by JohnTPT17

[RichardGoring]

It's working for me now too. All are funded, which is great. 

[Follows Closely]

The sets are all still available, but not for long!

90.32% https://www.lego.com/cart?product=910029 Mountain Fortress
71.01% https://www.lego.com/cart?product=910030 Snack Shack
66.80% https://www.lego.com/cart?product=910033 Old Train Engine Shed
50.25% https://www.lego.com/cart?product=910031 General Store
39.20% https://www.lego.com/cart?product=910032 Parisian Street

[MAB]

2 hours ago, JohnTPT17 said:

Just came to post about that. You would think they would have been prepared after getting some practice from previous waves, but I guess not.

Apparently they did boost their configuration in anticipation.  But obviously not enough. The silly think is the bit that was broken just took you from the front page to the BDP series 1 page on Bricklink. But you could still get there selecting it from the menu instead without the server error. The link to lego.com was fine. 

[JohnTPT17]

8 minutes ago, Follows Closely said:

The sets are all still available, but not for long!

Where are you seeing the percentages? I've been trying to track it, but just by eyeballing it.

3 minutes ago, MAB said:

Apparently they did boost their configuration in anticipation.  But obviously not enough. The silly think is the bit that was broken just took you from the front page to the BDP series 1 page on Bricklink. But you could still get there selecting it from the menu instead without the server error. The link to lego.com was fine. 

In retrospect, it honestly wasn't too bad - especially since none of the sets are sold out after two hours, which should have given people plenty of time. In the moment, it was a bit frustrating, though.