BrickLink Designer Program

FireFox31

The BrickLink Designer Program round 1 crowdfunding begins July 1.  The eight available sets have been identified.  Which will you fund and which five do you think will get produced?

Mountain View Observatory

Great Fishing Boat

Sheriff's Safe

Pursuit of Flight

Legend of BIONICLE

Kakapo

Castle in the Forest

Particle Accelerator

I think we'll easily get production of the Castle, Bionicle, Flight, and Observatory.  Picking a fifth one seems tough since most of them lost a bit in the translation from Ideas to BLDP.  The Safe seems the most like an Ideas set, least affected by the translation, but may not have the appeal.  Kakapo, Accelerator, and Boat are less than their Ideas submissions.  I really can't guess which will be the fifth in production.

bricktuary

Castle and Flight are indeed nailed on. I do love the Kakapo, I expect that to make the cut.

Observatory could end up just too expensive at 2,500 pieces, the Boat is now just too Aston Villa for me :) and Particle Accelerator seems to have been a bit simplified since the original idea.  

Russell844

The only one in this round I'm remotely interested in, depending on the final price, is the great fishing boat.

Switchfoot55

I'm my reading of the updates Crowdfunding rounds is correct, it appears that the three who don't make this round will be eligible for voting for the next round as well. At least, I think? 

There is more here than I'll be able to spend, but I'd personally fund the Kakapo, Flight, and the Safe. Not sure those will all be finalists, but I'd sure love to have each of them. 

bricktuary

Hmm, I thought that the 3 that didn't make it were therefore not going to be made, I don't think they get rolled forward to the next rounds.

Feels a bit unfair if they get 3 bites at the cherry, doesn't it?

Switchfoot55

Like I said, it may have been a misunderstanding on my part. It seemed odd to me as well...so perhaps I'm way off base. Would be the first time!

andhe

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

Thought it worth linking directly.

Must be an incredible amount of work for the designers to make their ideas 'production ready'.

Yellowcastle

I haven’t been following closely but am very interested in participating.  Thank you all for the continuing updates.

Marshallmario

The safe is the only one that might be in my price range but honestly, no printed instructions is a deal breaker for me. Maybe future sets will be awesome enough to overcome that issue for me. 

daewoo

I'm not interested in any of the first round choices.

pxchris

daewoo said:

I'm not interested in any of the first round choices.

Pretty much the same for me. I really like the idea and design behind the Castle in the Forest, but just like I've had to pass on the Blacksmith's Shop and new creator Castle, this is just not a path I can go down at the moment.

There are however a couple of future sets I have an interest in.

FireFox31

pxchris said:

but just like I've had to pass on the Blacksmith's Shop and new creator Castle, this is just not a path I can go down at the moment.

Tangent:  How have you talked yourself out of Blacksmith and Creator Castle?  I own zero Castle sets but still want those two.  I'll take any advice on how to talk myself out of buying them.

I did own one Forestmen set, which is represented in the "Castle in the Forest" set, thus I can easily justify that purchase.

Marshallmario said:

The safe is the only one that might be in my price range but honestly, no printed instructions is a deal breaker for me. Maybe future sets will be awesome enough to overcome that issue for me. 

I am tempted to have the instructions printed at a print shop.  The permanency of printed instructions is important.

pxchris

FireFox31 said:

pxchris said:

but just like I've had to pass on the Blacksmith's Shop and new creator Castle, this is just not a path I can go down at the moment.

Tangent:  How have you talked yourself out of Blacksmith and Creator Castle?  I own zero Castle sets but still want those two.  I'll take any advice on how to talk myself out of buying them.

I did own one Forestmen set, which is represented in the "Castle in the Forest" set, thus I can easily justify that purchase.

Don't get me wrong... I definitely want both the Blacksmith and the Castle... but between my budget and my display space, I simply have to be a bit more picky than just my wants. If it isn't completely obvious, I'm on a wee bit of a Pirates kick right now... and that's not a cheap theme to be into. Between that and the handful of other +$100 sets I have on my want list right now... well, something has to give.

FireFox31

Only a few more days until these are released.  What's your plan for getting one?  Are you expecting scalpers to dominate the servers so they sell out in the first minutes?

For the last BLDP, we were able to place orders for a long time (6 weeks or more?) with no pressure.  Where were the scalpers for that run?  Perhaps ignoring it because I don't think BrickLink said how many of each set they would produce.  The castle and the saloon eventually "sold out", which surprised me.

KungFuKenny

Just the castle for me I think.  I will actually be interested to see if BrickLink's servers are up to the strain of people are trying to buy at the same time. They haven’t had the most robust infrastructure in the past so I guess we’ll see.

karrit

I like the castle & the observatory but I expect the prices to be more than I'm willing to spend. 

Astrobricks

The observatory, for obvious reasons :) And also Pursuit of Flight.

pxchris

The last round prices were actually more reasonable that I had assumed they would be... so I'm interested in seeing what they look like this time.

KungFuKenny

The more times I go back and check out the projects the more I’m tempted by them. The observatory is nice, and watching JK brickworks video on the particle Accelerator has tempted me there as well…

daewoo

The more I look at it, the more I am considering the Observatory. 

Switchfoot55

From the FAQs - 

How many projects will be produced?

In each round of crowdfunding, the first 5 projects that reach the minimum threshold of 3000 pre-orders will be realized.

Maybe it's mentioned elsewhere, but I read this to mean that the MINIMUM number of sets will be 3000. No maximum mentioned from what I can see? Again, I may just be missing it. 

Also, does anyone know what time they go available? July 1st at 12:00AM (EST, MST, PST? GMT?)

KungFuKenny

Switchfoot55 said:

From the FAQs - 

How many projects will be produced?

In each round of crowdfunding, the first 5 projects that reach the minimum threshold of 3000 pre-orders will be realized.

Maybe it's mentioned elsewhere, but I read this to mean that the MINIMUM number of sets will be 3000. No maximum mentioned from what I can see? Again, I may just be missing it. 

Also, does anyone know what time they go available? July 1st at 12:00AM (EST, MST, PST? GMT?)

"Each designer set is a limited edition, and the quantity produced will be up to 5,000"-- so looks like minimum 3000 and maximum 5000 per the FAQ (first question in the list)...

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

KungFuKenny

Also, it says July 1 at 8AM Pacific, 5pm CET 

Switchfoot55

^Thanks, Kenny. With everyone talking about limited release numbers, I was sure I was missing something. 

autolycus

Only 5k max of each? That castle could go fast!

Russell844

It looks like the observatory has been dropped from round 1.

Astrobricks

Russell844 said:

It looks like the observatory has been dropped from round 1.

No! Wtf? It’s labeled “TEST BUILDING” now. What does that actually mean?

KungFuKenny

Astrobricks said:

Russell844 said:

It looks like the observatory has been dropped from round 1.

No! Wtf? It’s labeled “TEST BUILDING” now. What does that actually mean?

The site says “Unfortunately, due to high complexity of this project, it will no longer be included in Round 1 crowdfunding. It will be available for crowdfunding in another round. Please check back for updates.”  

That is weird, because it was in the first round as of this morning when I looked…

autolycus said:

Only 5k max of each? That castle could go fast!

Especially if some people buy the max of 5 each! (Not that I have contemplated such a heinous act…🙂)

Yellowcastle

For those of us Bricklink noobs, how exactly do people think we will we pay for these?  Are we funding these through BL itself like S@H?  Will we have to wait for an invoice like a normal purchase?  Does BL even let you store payment methods or do you just have to navigate externally to PayPal, for example, after getting payment details?  Will you be placed on some kind of timer to complete the transaction?  Will we be able to “buy/fund” more than one set at a time or execute multiple purchases?

The_Rancor

I was thinking the same thing regarding putting money forward for funding, because it’s definitely not the same as buying from someone’s BL store.

autolycus

It is crowdfunding, so I assume payment will be due immediately and then refunded if your set choice doesn’t make the cut. Or maybe they’ll wait until a set makes it to 3k purchases and then charge everyone then? I’d be surprised if they wait until it ships.

The_Rancor

I think I saw something in their FAQs saying the payment is not taken until it’s confirmed that the set has enough funding. So you’re ‘pledging’ the cost of the set and when it has enough orders to go into production then each funder is charged.

bandit778

If  I remember correctly, last time out the details of your card were taken for your sets of choice (along with all other details) but weren't actually taken until the set reached it's goal amount.

Having said that, I am old and I can't remember what I did yesterday so I could be wrong.

EDIT: Just checked the orders page from last time round.

autolycus

The only thing I could find in the current FAQ is this:

When a project is not realized by the end of the crowdfunding period, all pre-orders will be canceled, and you will not be charged.

I suspect that means they'll charge people as soon as the crowdfunding period is over. That said, they do use the term "preorder", so maybe they won't change anybody until they ship.

pxchris

^^ Like @bandit778 said, that's how it worked the last time. I got charged for the sets I backed once they were ready to ship.

Shropshire

Rather than just the set price, I am just hoping that when it launches there are sensible consideration for buyers i.e. leverage TLG Global capability in some way so i'm not hit with delivery + customs/duties + handling charges.. the last set I was interested in doubled in cost overall which made it not viable. Not sure if i've missed anything on this or if it's wait and see

autolycus

I looked back through all of the sets in all 3 waves, and I'm disappointed. In wave 1, I am interested in the castle, the flight motion model, and the fishing boat. The safe and collider also look great, but I don't think I'd buy them. I doubt all 3 of my preferred models will make the cut this time. Then when I look at other waves, there are only 1 or 2 that I would consider. So... looks like I'm nearly all in on wave 1 and will just cross my fingers that my preferences make the 3k commitments!

Later waves have some lovely designs that I'm just not interested in buying right now. I think the calendar is great, and I might go for that because I think it'd look fun on a desk. The Winter Chalet looks like a good option for my growing winter village--although I'm slightly concerned about scale. It looks huge compared to the official Lego annual WV series. Maybe it's not really?

The modular Lego store might deserve consideration, but I'll have to see the final design and price.

The moving waterfall looks great, but it's very complicated and I'll bet the price will end up higher than I want to spend for that one. I have similar feelings about the other buildings (bowling alley, studio, train station, Venetian buildings, diner, ruined house, and windmill). Lovely designs, just not sure they're doing it for me. Maybe the windmill? I'll give it some thought when it's wave comes up, but I expect to pass.

Oh, the modular construction site... That one would be a great fit for anybody who's got a full city layout! I don't. In fact, I have problems with the height of some of the existing modular buildings. Nowhere to display that one means it's not on my list.

Yellowcastle

So, will BL be the seller?  And if so, they’ll take some kind of payment info at time of ordering?  And if so, does BL allow you to save any payment info so you don’t have to do that dance during the order process?  And if so, should we still look to leverage a 3rd party payment site to protect ourselves or with BL being bought by LEGO and the seller being BL, is it safe to use direct payments?

autolycus

I really wish we could at least see the prices in advance, but Brick Fanatics also raises good points about a lack of information about packaging, piece counts, and other fairly basic information that people would probably factor into their decisions to fund a project or not.

KungFuKenny

Yellowcastle said:

So, will BL be the seller?  And if so, they’ll take some kind of payment info at time of ordering?  And if so, does BL allow you to save any payment info so you don’t have to do that dance during the order process?  And if so, should we still look to leverage a 3rd party payment site to protect ourselves or with BL being bought by LEGO and the seller being BL, is it safe to use direct payments?

I assume that it will be like last time, in which case Bricklink will use the PayPal account that you have linked. This is the same PayPal that you use to pay for Bricklink orders.  If you are logged in I don’t think you will have to input any further payment information.

autolycus said:

In wave 1, I am interested in the castle, the flight motion model, and the fishing boat. The safe and collider also look great, but I don't think I'd buy them. I doubt all 3 of my preferred models will make the cut this time.

I think that the castle and the JK brickworks flight model are pretty close to a lock to be approved. Not sure about the particle accelerator…

Yellowcastle

Thanks, Kenny, though I don’t see anywhere on BL to link a PayPal. I have been known to be tech illiterate...😕

KungFuKenny

^have you made BL purchases before?  I set mine up years ago but I think when you make a BL account it makes you include payment information?

Yellowcastle

^ I don’t recall when it was first set up but definitely can’t seem to find anywhere to validate now.

KungFuKenny

@Yellowcastle I suspect that it will be like buying from stores that have the on-site payment option.  Once you submit your order BL opens a PayPal pop up window that (depending on your device and how you save passwords) may or may not have your PayPal login and PW already added.  If not just type your UN and PW and PayPal will process the order and re-direct back to BL to complete the order.

autolycus

Stupid question because I'm sometimes bad with timezones: What time in EST will the sets go live for preorder?

KungFuKenny

@autolycus
Should be 8AM Pacific, 10AM CST, and 11AM EST… which is 5PM (17:00) CET

Yellowcastle

Thanks @KungFuKenny

Fizyx

KungFuKenny said:

@autolycus
Should be 8AM Pacific, 10AM CST, and 11AM EST… which is 5PM (17:00) CET

Nobody ever wants to post in Mountain Time ;_;

Astrobricks

Fizyx said:

KungFuKenny said:

@autolycus
Should be 8AM Pacific, 10AM CST, and 11AM EST… which is 5PM (17:00) CET

Nobody ever wants to post in Mountain Time ;_;

Or daylight time apparently.

daewoo

I lived in Mountain Time when I attended university.  It was weird....Mountain Time that is.  

Redbullgivesuwind

daewoo said:

It was weird....Mountain Time that is.  

Is that because it is a different time if you are at the top or bottom of the mountain?