A little reminder for all those who want to afford one of the four sets from the first crowdfunding phase of the Bricklink Designer Program 2021: you will have to be in front of your screen on August 3, 2021 from 21:00 p.m. to hope to be able to buy a copy of the sets. 910010 The Great Fishing Boat (€ 109.99), 910016 Sheriff's Safe (€ 44.99), 910017 Kakapo (69.99 €) and 910028 Pursuit of Flight (49.99 €).

I will not repeat the pitch of the evolution of the program following the fiasco of the launch of the first phase of crowdfunding, you will find all the details of the evolution of the thing in the article published on the site at this address.

Just be aware that the regional quotas already in place during the first step are maintained and that you will only be able to buy one copy of each of the four sets released for sale and that you will not be able to afford a copy of the set. 910001 Castle of the Forest, the 10.000 boxes planned having already been sold.

The purchase process will go through the official LEGO online store, the links below will be updated as soon as the sale opens to add the set directly to the cart without going through Bricklink which will probably crash from 21:00 p.m.

910010 THE GREAT FISHING BOAT VIA LE SHOP LEGO >>

910016 SHERIFF'S SAFE VIA LE SHOP LEGO >>

910017 KAKAPO VIA THE LEGO SHOP >>

910028 PURSUIT OF FLIGHT VIA THE LEGO SHOP >>

Update : links work.

I believe it can be said that the launch of the first phase of crowdfunding of the Bricklink Designer Program 2021 has been a success for some or a fiasco for others. A success because the most prominent projects were funded in just a few minutes, a fiasco because you had to be very quick to hope to get a copy of the set 910001 Castle of the Forest (149.99 €) while many boxes were already listed on eBay at incredible prices just minutes after the opening of the crowdfunding phase.

LEGO finally reacts to the many criticisms that have not failed to invade social networks or forums and provides some clarification on what happened and on the measures that will be taken so that the next phase of crowdfunding is not from the same barrel.

When the first phase was launched on July 1, Bricklink.com did not hold the load and the site was quickly unavailable to many visitors, preventing them from attempting to place an order. LEGO promises to work on this subject without specifying what measures will be taken to streamline the process and level the playing field (queue?).

Regarding the limit set at 5000 copies per set, LEGO admits that it was inspired by the quota of 2500 copies implemented during the first edition of the Bricklink Designer Program in 2019. The 2500 copies of each reference had then struggled to find a buyer for certain references and LEGO estimated that the quota of 5000 units per product would be more than sufficient this time. The manufacturer acknowledges having greatly underestimated demand and promises to double this quota for the next phases of financing.

The icing on the cake, the dysfunction of the site from the launch of the operation allowed 10.000 copies of the set 910001 Castle of the Forest to be ordered, the initial quota of 5000 units being largely exceeded. In response, LEGO promises to manufacture 10.000 copies of the set to honor all validated orders and not disappoint anyone.

Four projects from the first phase will also be put back on sale from August 3, with a new quota set at 10.000 copies, i.e. 5000 new copies available: 910010 The Great Fishing Boat (€ 109.99), 910016 Sheriff's Safe (€ 44.99), 910017 Kakapo (69.99 €) and 910028 Pursuit of Flight (49.99 €).
The next phases of crowdfunding will see the quota of product sets set from the start at 10.0000 copies.

Please note, this increase in production will have an impact on product availability: the 5000 additional copies of each of the references in the first phase will not be available until June 2022 instead of January 2022. The other two funding phases will be also affected by this lengthening of production and delivery times.

Regarding the limit of 5 copies of each set per customer which many saw as a possibility for speculators to make more than a small ticket on the resale of the sets: LEGO claims that a minority of customers have taken advantage of this possibility, 75% of the sales of the set 910001 Castle of the Forest would relate to only one copy of the product. 15% on two copies and only 5% of customers would have bought five copies, but decided all the same to reduce this limit to a single copy per customer for the releasing of the sets from the first phase and for the following phases.

LEGO also specifies that the choice to make the flow of orders via the official online store limits the possibilities of delivery to certain geographical areas. This solution will remain in place for future funding phases, as will the quotas in place by geographic area.

The instruction files of the various product sets will not be made available to the general public, even for a fee. LEGO invokes the contractual relationships entered into with fan designers who will receive a commission on the sales of physical products.

In the end, those who wanted a copy of the set 910001 Castle of the Forest but who did not succeed in validating an order will not have one. Those who wanted a copy of one of the other four sets mentioned above will have a new chance from August 3.

Regarding sets resold on eBay : LEGO is working on the withdrawal of these listings based on the rule in force on the marketplace that if a seller cannot provide the product within 30 days of it being put on sale, he has no the right to sell it. New ads are coming online every day, however, as sellers try to get through the drops.

Forward for the first phase of crowdfunding of the Bricklink Designer Program 2021 with 7 sets that are available for pre-order today. Pre-orders go through the official online store and the links below allow you to add the reference directly to your cart. Two sets are already exhausted from the quota allocated to our geographical area.

New step of Bricklink Designer Program 2021 scheduled for July 1, 2021 with the launch of the first phase of crowdfunding which involves 8 projects, of which only 5 will have the chance to be produced.

Indeed, only the first 5 projects to reach 3000 pre-orders will be selected and Bricklink confirms that 5000 copies of each of these sets will be produced. The prices of each of these boxes have not yet been communicated.

You will find below the visuals of the 8 projects in competition, you have a few days left to make your choice and decide whether or not to spend your money on these projects which had in the past reached 10.000 supports on the LEGO Ideas platform and which had was then rejected during the review phase.

If you only follow the news from a distance Bricklink Designer Program, which in its 2021 edition highlights the draft of projects that had in the past reached 10.000 supporters on the LEGO Ideas platform and which had then been rejected during the review phase, know that the rules of the operation have evolved these last days with a spread over several months of the so-called crowdfunding phase.

Initially, this crowdfunding phase was scheduled between June and August 2021 and it was supposed to make it possible to decide between the 26 projects remaining in the race to retain only 13.

This phase will now be broken down into three distinct stages during which 8 to 10 projects will seek buyers. At the end of each of the three crowdfunding stages, the five best-funded projects will go into production for a total of 15 creations that will be marketed at the end of the process.

The good news: this new segmentation of the crowdfunding phase will allow those who wanted to acquire several of these creations to spread the financial burden over several months. The bad news: if the project you are interested in is in the funding phase scheduled for September or December 2021, you will have to wait long months before you can finally enjoy your favorite set.

As an indication, know that the first of these three phases of crowdfunding will take place from July 1 to August 11, 2021 and it will be followed by the passage into production of the five sets selected in September 2021. I will let you estimate the delay that will result from this new schedule for the next two phases.

Note that since the launch of the 2021 edition, five projects have been withdrawn from the initial selection which included 31 projects: the three proposals from RobenAnne which collaborates with the German company Blue Brixx, the project Temple of Hermit of Brickfornia due to the complexity of its adaptation to the standards of the program and the project Japanese Old Style Architecture of TAXON55 that the designer had to withdraw due to "other obligations" without knowing whether it is an agreement with a third-party manufacturer.