BrickLink Designer Program

pxchris

The diner and bowling alley are the two I'm currently eyeballing.

sweetness34

The brickwest studio is my favorite for the upcoming rounds

Russell844

Winter Chalet all the way.

drdavewatford

There are loads in the remaining 19 that I like including the ruined house, observatory and chalet.

bricktuary

The Exploratorium is up to 3,352 pieces!

I love the Venetian houses, also great that you can remove the bottom row of bricks every few months to simulate the inevitable destruction of Venice due to global warming.

Switchfoot55

I'm definitely interested in the Chalet, Working Waterfall, Aquarium, and Seasons in Time Calendar. All of the rest appeal to me as well, but these four have my eye the most as of right now. 

I'm most likely to put money down on the Chalet, however. 

Yellowcastle

I may be in the minority here and it’s still in testing, but I dislike the fact that the Winter Chalet is open faced.  I love the Observatory, Bowling Alley and Ruined House but am concerned about the eventual price points.  I am betting the Mountain Windmill, however, will remain affordable no matter what.

drdavewatford

Yellowcastle said:

I may be in the minority here and it’s still in testing, but I dislike the fact that the Winter Chalet is open faced. 

Presumably you mean open-backed, in which case I agree with you. Should be reasonably straightforward to remedy that, though.

Russell844

The open-back doesn't bother me as all the Winter Village sets are that way. I've heard a rumor that the Home Alone house will be the same way too.

Yellowcastle

Open Faced / Open Backed
Tomato / Tomato
lol :o)

bricktuary

drdavewatford said:

Yellowcastle said:

I may be in the minority here and it’s still in testing, but I dislike the fact that the Winter Chalet is open faced. 

Presumably you mean open-backed, in which case I agree with you. Should be reasonably straightforward to remedy that, though.

Especially if you can buy two sets then you just need to add a hinge.... oh wait.

Bumblepants

Yellowcastle said:

Open Faced / Open Backed
Tomato / Tomato
lol :o)

Ok but there is not a single person on earth going around saying tomato. Everyone says tomato.

Yellowcastle

I guess this Winter Chalet criticism would have made less sense to me had I opened any of my WV sets. Lol.

Russell844

Bumblepants said:

Yellowcastle said:

Open Faced / Open Backed
Tomato / Tomato
lol :o)

Ok but there is not a single person on earth going around saying tomato. Everyone says tomato.

I don't. I don't like tomatoes. I prefer potatoes.

CCC

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

For those wanting round 2 ... it says crowd funding starts in early November and the next section says pre-ordering starts August 15th.

Well done for being so confusing BL!

eMJeeNL

CCC said:

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

For those wanting round 2 ... it says crowd funding starts in early November and the next section says pre-ordering starts August 15th.

Well done for being so confusing BL!

Uhm... Did they change it?

autolycus

Yeah, that’s not problematic at all… in addition to the screenshot above, this text is at the top of the page: 

so…. Which is it? This weekend? Or early November? I’m assuming November because of the extra sets from Round 1 and none of the later round sets are showing approved status or whatever comes after “test building”.

Rraider

Did all of the first 5 sets really sell out? I hadn’t checked the updates in the last week or so but last I saw only the castle and boat sold out with the other three not moving up much. 

bricktuary

Judging by the comments on the site from the designers themselves, there's no chance they are ready to start R2 by 15th August. 

Shropshire

to me looks like R1 closed on a date basis rather than all 5 sets hitting 10,000 sales. i.e. it was always that R1 was Jul 1st to Aug 11th. Looks like the reopening for orders on the 3rd was either still linked to the 11th end date or they forgot to extend it.

Switchfoot55

I'm betting it will end up being October 38th. 

Rraider

Shropshire said:

to me looks like R1 closed on a date basis rather than all 5 sets hitting 10,000 sales. i.e. it was always that R1 was Jul 1st to Aug 11th. Looks like the reopening for orders on the 3rd was either still linked to the 11th end date or they forgot to extend it.

Looks like that was it. The order page is back open. 

Yellowcastle

Wow, how do they continue to screw things up?  Did they even say anything or just quietly turn it all back on?

CCC

Yellowcastle said:

Wow, how do they continue to screw things up?  Did they even say anything or just quietly turn it all back on?

Bricklink frequently screw up. Lego online frequently screw up. Bricklink x LEGO = screw up squared.

Switchfoot55

Hmm...guess I'll be awake early on the 15th just in case round 2 actually does go live. 

MinifigInSpace

I was afraid Bricklink would inherit tech trouble from LEGO. Even though I hoped for the best, it does feel bad to say I expected tech trouble to happen.

Like many fellow fans, I regret not grabbing "Castle in the Forest." I briefly checked my phone during work when everything first went live, opened the link to lego.com, and told myself "I'll buy it on my first break." Fast forward to break: completely sold out on Bricklink.

My next favorite is "Space Troopers." However, since it's the only project still in the digital modeling phase, I'm beginning to have concern that it won't make it...

FireFox31

Their FAQ page still says you can order 5 of each set.  Guess I can't trust that page for the start of round 2 and 3 funding.  I'll check back September 1st for round 2, as initially planned.

Coolguy5000

I haven't read all the posts in this thread, but do we know if these sets will have fully designed boxes and will the graphics such as those on the safe be prints or stickers? With digital instructions only I'm debating if there's anything actually unique coming for my money.

CCC

Coolguy5000 said:

I haven't read all the posts in this thread, but do we know if these sets will have fully designed boxes and will the graphics such as those on the safe be prints or stickers? With digital instructions only I'm debating if there's anything actually unique coming for my money.

For a run of up to 5000 (now 10000) sets I doubt there will be any unique printed parts. 

daewoo

I agree with CCC.  Pad printing isn't the cheapest thing so they would require a large quantity of printed elements to justify the cost.

Jern92

From the FAQs:

How many crowdfunding periods will there be?

There will be three crowdfunding periods, and in each period, up to 10 designs will be available for crowdfunding. The first batch will start July 1st, we are currently planning the dates for round 2 and 3 according to changes made after Crowdfunding round 1.

Why does increasing production quantities push back the production schedule and future crowdfunding rounds?

Even though we're increasing production, we still have the same limitations on production scheduling. Due to demand and the feedback we received, we opted to increase the number of sets we’re producing. The tradeoff is that the additional 5,000 sets made for Round 1 will be shipped in June 2022, which will also delay the production of Rounds 2 & 3. We will announce new timing for Crowdfunding for Rounds 2 and 3 as soon as we have confirmed with all stakeholders.

https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/support/main.page?utm_content=subnav

sweetness34

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/community/newsview.page?msgid=1301686

Round 2 selections have been announced 

Astrobricks

Wait. What happened to the observatory?

Rraider

Astrobricks said:

Wait. What happened to the observatory?

Looks like will be in round 3. 

Any idea when round 2 will be open for orders. One place says September and another says later in 2021. 

Switchfoot55

Seriously? Chalet to round 3!? 

You're killin' me Smalls.

Russell844

I bet they did that on purpose so there won't be three "winter village" sets in one year.

karrit

I may be interested in a few of them depending on prices but as of now none in this next round will be a must have for me. 

Russell844

Same here. There is a history of bowling in my family, so that would be sweet to have. I also really like the ruined house. Prices will be the deciding factor.

bricktuary

Oh no, Anatomini is gone (again!). The designer has worked so hard on that, I feel very sorry for them. 

daewoo

The Ruined House and Retro Bowling Alley interest me.  I've built (and continue to modify) a Lego store modular, so I have no interest in that one.

Jern92

I’ll probably spring for the Lego store modular and the bowling alley, because they fit best with the rest of my modular buildings. Seems like it will be an expensive period for me though!

pxchris

The bowling alley is the only one I'm seriously considering from this round. I'll wait to see the price before deciding for sure.

Rraider

I’m really interested in the Seasons in Time Calendar. I haven’t heard as much interest in it. I hope it’s one of the five supported. 

bricktuary

So, assuming no more get cut, and pricing is all similar relative to each other and the R1 sets:

Poor Quest Builder doesn't stand a chance
Science Adventures is up against strong opposition, and I'm not sure it will have the appear

Windmill and Lego Store seem like certs to make it to the top 5
Bowling Alley also looks like a strong contender 

So that leaves 2 from Studio/Ruined House/Calendar/Aquarium
and really, while I'm not personally that excited by the House or Calendar, all 4 will have their fans and deserve to be built. Shame to see some miss out. I suspect the Studio might be a bit complex to have mass appeal.

datsunrobbie

I bet if they put the castle from round 1 back in that it would have won again.

Fizyx

I have to say, I'm pretty shocked by the lack of interest in the aquarium.  It's a smaller build, so it should be pretty cheap (at least in comparison), and it just looks great, imo, even aside from the wonderful swimming fish feature.  I for one am going to be super sad if it doesn't make it through :(

Rraider

Fizyx said:

I have to say, I'm pretty shocked by the lack of interest in the aquarium.  It's a smaller build, so it should be pretty cheap (at least in comparison), and it just looks great, imo, even aside from the wonderful swimming fish feature.  I for one am going to be super sad if it doesn't make it through :(

I like that one too and agree it shoukd be a reasonable price. I already picked #31122 fish tank or it would be the second pick after the calendar. Might still get it depending on the cost. 

EGRoberts

I feel like things like the aquarium are great but don't appeal to the mass due to it is not minifig scale.. Minifigs sell lego as there is a large group who enjoy being able to add it to something of there own collection like town buildings for there cities or that windmill for my medieval village! Events like the designer program are also going to draw crowds who will be willing to spend more money on a single set as it is all collectors who are looking due to Bricklinks fanbase.

Yellowcastle

Ugh, I’m concerned what they’ve lined up for Round 2.  While we circumnavigate 3 of the most popular sets based on our previous poll (Chalet, Observatory and Diner), we are still left with 4 other high interest set since in the Windmill, Calendar, Ruined house and Bowling Alley.  And there were folks reflecting strong interest in the LEGO Store and Studio.

And I'm a little concerned that the aquarium and science sets could garner momentum just based on a likely much more affordable price point.  

When it goes live, be sure to support the ones that interest you and sooner rather than later.  I predict that there might be a photo finish to 5,000 for this round. 😬 

Astrobricks

EGRoberts said:

I feel like things like the aquarium are great but don't appeal to the mass due to it is not minifig scale.. Minifigs sell lego as there is a large group who enjoy being able to add it to something of there own collection like town buildings for there cities or that windmill for my medieval village! Events like the designer program are also going to draw crowds who will be willing to spend more money on a single set as it is all collectors who are looking due to Bricklinks fanbase.

Personally I don’t give a hoot if it’s minifig scale or not. I hope to get the aquarium and maybe the bowling alley.