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Pre-ordering starts on February 7th, 8 AM Pacific time.
That’s right folks, not long now until you can put in your order for the finalist designs from Series 1 of the BrickLink Designer Program. This phase of the timeline is the ‘crowdfunding’, where the customer pays up front, and then waits 6 months or so for the LEGO set to be manufactured then delivered.
There are 5 designs (with a limit of 2 of each design per household), with the costs ranging from AU$72.99 - AU$529.99. Each set will need at least 3,000 pre-orders to be produced, and there will be a maximum of 30,000 sets of each design produced. It’s a one-off production run, so if you don’t pre-order in the time-frame given, or it reaches the 30,000 limit before you are able to login and place your own order… then that’s it, you’ll miss out and have to buy it off someone who will likely require another arm or leg from you to cover the cost they want for it.
To refresh your memory, if you have been following the Designer Programs or reading my articles about them (or to introduce you to the designs for those who have no idea what program I’m talking about), the five impressive designs made by LEGO fans that will be available for us to pre-order are (from cheapest to most expensive):
Snack Shack
by DistractedBldr
AU $72.99
Total parts: 539
2 Minifigures included.
Model Dimensions:
Width: 18.2 cm
Length: 20 cm
Height: 14.6 cm
General Store
by llucky
AU $219.99
Total parts: 1,906
5 Minifigures and 2 horses included.
Model Dimensions:
Width: 36.5 cm
Length: 30.9 cm
Height: 19.5 cm
Old Train Engine Shed
by Mind_the_Brick
AU $349.99
Total parts: 2,331
6 Minifigures included.
Model Dimensions:
Width: 27 cm
Length: 52.9 cm
Height: 22.9 cm
Parisian Street
by NicolasCarlier
AU $469.99
Total parts: 3,532
7 Minifigures included.
Model Dimensions:
Width: 19.1 cm
Length: 51.3 cm
Height: 33.6 cm
Mountain Fortress
by SleeplessNight
AU $529.99
Total parts: 3,995
9 Minifigures included.
Model Dimensions (Closed):
Width: 45.9 cm
Length: 39 cm
Height: 59 cm
Model Dimensions (Opened):
Width: 49.2 cm
Length: 63.1 cm
Height: 59 cm
A final note is that the BrickLink Designer Program sets will feature digital building instructions and printable PDFs.
Click on the links above to read more about the builds and their designers.
Series 2 will have all new designs and will become available for crowdfunding in June 2024.
If you haven’t saved up enough money for your preferred option this time around, then have a look at the upcoming finalists in series 2 & 3 (series 4 submissions are almost at an end, and crowd support, or voting, will take place in February 2024).
Keep an eye out for the 'Mountain Fortress' in a future Brick News competition too ;)
How does ordering from BrickLink work? I've never done it before. I'm interested in that General Store set. If I were to pre-order it and it didn't reach over 3000 pre-orders to get it produced, would I get my money fully returned? I appreciate any help : ) And stupid question, but does it come with all parts? Also if you or anyone knows any other Western sets that can be purchased online, it would be great to know. I wish LEGO produced Western sets. I've had a look online but I can only see older LEGO produced ones that I'm not really interested in. And 1 or 2 on BrickLink but they weren't produced, despite how good they looked.