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Note that since the launch of the 2021 edition, five projects have been withdrawn from the initial selection which included 31 projects: the three proposals from RobenAnne which collaborates with the German company Blue Brixx, the project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.

On the way to the draft program of some of the projects that had in the past reached 10.000 backers on the LEGO Ideas platform and which were subsequently rejected during the review phase: LEGO is launching today the 2021 edition of the Bricklink Designer Program and 27 of the creators of initially rejected projects were "invited" for a total of 31 creations in the running. No licensed project was selected.

At this stage, the creators of unlucky projects during the different review phases are working on adapting their proposals to make them compatible with the imposed rules: They must reproduce their creation in Bricklink Studio 2.0 using an inventory of parts and a limited color palette and their mission is also to offer a final version made up of at least 400 bricks and whose inventory does not exceed 4000 elements.
Each creator therefore has his hand over the final version of his project, a bit like an official designer who works by taking into account many parameters to arrive at the final version that will be marketed.

This first so-called "pre-production" phase, which includes test sequences for the various products modified by their creators, will end on May 31, 2021. Only products which comply with the specifications imposed will be eligible for the following phase of crowdfunding. which will begin on June 1, 2021.

It will then be for fans interested in one or more of the projects in the running to pre-order them and then wait for the results of this funding phase. Only the 13 projects pre-ordered with at least 3000 copies will go into production in September 2021 and will become Bricklink Designer Program Sets 5000 copies printed. If you have pre-ordered a set that does not pass the crowdfunding phase, you will be refunded.

Please note, there will be no instruction booklets in paper format, it will be necessary to be satisfied with digital versions. The assembly instructions for all other proposals not selected will be marketed. LEGO does not communicate for the moment on a precise date of reception of the pre-ordered sets and is satisfied to announce November 2021 for the first shipments.

The designers of the 13 projects marketed will receive a 10% commission on the sales, those whose projects were not selected for the production phase will receive a 75% commission on the sale of the instruction files.

LEGO is not communicating for the moment on the packaging of the different sets that will be marketed and it is not known if this new wave of almost official products will be flanked by the manufacturer's logo and / or any reference to the LEGO Ideas platform. We do know, however, that the sets will be made in Europe.

You can find the 31 projects competing for this first phase of the program at this address on Bricklink.