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Thinking of recent initiatives such as Lego Forma or Bricklink's celebration of the 60 years anniversary of Lego, I wonder if crowdfunding represents a true opportunity for afols. In fact, whilst Forma is a means to test a new product, minimizing the risk and using a different marketing strategy, Bricklink’s case is much more interesting. First of all which is the limit between an afol and an entrepreneur or, better said, between a passion and a business? And when a passion, taken to the extremes, becomes a way to earn money is it still a hobby? But let us not kid ourselves, the amount of hours that a high level afol invests to conceive a model and then to build it will never be repaid, neither by Bricklink nor by the tip that Lego may allocate to him if his Idea becomes a catalogue’s product. Therefore Bricklink’s attempt constitutes a fascinating mix of the (narcissistic?) will to show off and share with peers a hobby mastery, and a business in its purest form, spontaneously born to fill a gap. Whereas Lego, in spite of its formal approvals, cannot or simply don’t want to listen, then afols will step forward, kickstarting their own models, thus creating a parallel market. It is a win-win situation, at least for both Bricklink and afols (creators and supporters/buyers). How many times people gave up on building complex afols’ designs shown on Rebrickable, despite having the instructions for free, due to the impossibility or the high difficulty to find the proper parts? Maybe in the future Bricklink and Brickowl will take charge of this tedious procedure and, being paid for the trouble, they will sell their own sets regularly. Perhaps this hypothetical new market will also become the second chance for many rejected Ideas.
