BrickLink designer program series 4 finalists announced
Posted by Huw,
The five finalists of the BrickLink Designer Program series four have just been announced.
Crowdfunding for the series will commence on February 1st, 2025, so there's plenty of time to save up.
In the meantime, crowdfunding for series two begins on June 1st, and on October 3rd for series three.
Have a look at the winners after the break and let us know which ones you plan to buy.
Wild West Train by Ilucky
Medieval Seaside Market by Bricks_fan_uy
The Riverside Scholars by Hanwas
Siege Encampment by SleepsNight
Merchant Boat by Nicolas Carlier
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70 comments on this article
TWO castle sets, and one more mostly-castle-compatible. Good times for medieval fans.
Yayyy, the merchant boat made it! Glad at least one of my favorites came through victorious. And the wild west train is very cool too, Will go nicely with the general store once it arrives. And Castle is still Castle. Good for the fans I guess, but I'd have preferred some of the more original submissions by a long shot.
@SmilingCyclops said:
"TWO castle sets, and one more mostly-castle-compatible. Good times for medieval fans."
You're correct but bad times for my wallet...
Wow, @llucky got second set to be produced in BDP, congrats!!!
I must say, all of them look tempting!
@laibros said:
" @SmilingCyclops said:
"TWO castle sets, and one more mostly-castle-compatible. Good times for medieval fans."
You're correct but bad times for my wallet..."
Bye bye bank account!
Is there going to be a castle theme next year since we have a space theme this year?
I would have preferred the Rocket, but happy to have a train set anyway!
My wallet, cap'n, she cannae take any more!
I like the Riverside Scholars, it has a bit of a Townscape feel to it.
Castle and Trains, you don't say...
@laibros said:
" @SmilingCyclops said:
"TWO castle sets, and one more mostly-castle-compatible. Good times for medieval fans."
You're correct but bad times for my wallet..."
I agree. Wallet sad. These all look tempting.
Another boat and another castle-like build, yeah that’s about what I expected. Yet, some people still don’t think the medieval entries are a dime a dozen.
The train looks awesome.
Will the instructions for these be available? The older ones are already available here: https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/instructions.page
@huw do you maybe have any information regarding this? Thank you!
They're all cool, but the train is definitely the one I'd be most likely to get.
It just depends on price.
I quite like the siege encampment and the Medieval Seaside Market, but I won't get them because my wallet says no.
The Castle is strong with this one.
Oh boy, more castles and trains.
Also, 4/5 of the winners have had BDP sets before. This is Hanwas' * third * set.
Let's let other people have a chance. Let's switch up the portfolio a bit.
I don't see this sustaining if this is how it's gonna go. Personally every time I see this outcome, I am more turned away from participating, when I really, really want to.
I was quite surprised to see the Siege Encampment has quite so many pieces - about 2,600. It's bigger by piece count than the Seaside Market. Lots of small pieces I guess!
I like all of them but my wallet once again says NO!!
My wallet is happy the school didn't pass.
@fourstud said:
"Oh boy, more castles and trains.
Also, 4/5 of the winners have had BDP sets before. This is Hanwas' * third * set.
Let's let other people have a chance. Let's switch up the portfolio a bit.
I don't see this sustaining if this is how it's gonna go. Personally every time I see this outcome, I am more turned away from participating, when I really, really want to."
I really would love to get a model of mine through, because I'm purposefully building things that are different. Yes, some trains, too, but nobody's put a dinosaur through...
@fourstud said:
"Oh boy, more castles and trains.
Also, 4/5 of the winners have had BDP sets before. This is Hanwas' * third * set.
Let's let other people have a chance. Let's switch up the portfolio a bit.
I don't see this sustaining if this is how it's gonna go. Personally every time I see this outcome, I am more turned away from participating, when I really, really want to."
I think this shows how much people want more of those types of sets, but at the same time, there is so much less hope for variety when you can almost guarantee that at least 3/5 sets will come from Castle, Western, or Pirates
@Modeltrainman said:
" @fourstud said:
"Oh boy, more castles and trains.
Also, 4/5 of the winners have had BDP sets before. This is Hanwas' * third * set.
Let's let other people have a chance. Let's switch up the portfolio a bit.
I don't see this sustaining if this is how it's gonna go. Personally every time I see this outcome, I am more turned away from participating, when I really, really want to."
I really would love to get a model of mine through, because I'm purposefully building things that are different. Yes, some trains, too, but nobody's put a dinosaur through..."
fwiw I vote for dinosaur/prehistoric stuff almost every time I see it.
Not a single one of the excellent school, shopping center, opera house, or other modulars made it.
I’m disappointed, but it also means I have no obligation to buy anything from this round.
Looking across all the next 3 series, is it a criteria for a building to incorporate some kind of water or sea theme?
@SmilingCyclops said:
" @Modeltrainman said:
" @fourstud said:
"Oh boy, more castles and trains.
Also, 4/5 of the winners have had BDP sets before. This is Hanwas' * third * set.
Let's let other people have a chance. Let's switch up the portfolio a bit.
I don't see this sustaining if this is how it's gonna go. Personally every time I see this outcome, I am more turned away from participating, when I really, really want to."
I really would love to get a model of mine through, because I'm purposefully building things that are different. Yes, some trains, too, but nobody's put a dinosaur through..."
fwiw I vote for dinosaur/prehistoric stuff almost every time I see it."
Good to know.
@SmilingCyclops said:
"TWO castle sets, and one more mostly-castle-compatible. Good times for medieval fans."
this makes me happy, but also means we might not have any other lego castle sets released by lego (sad face).
Are people starting to get fatigued? They are really pumping out these Bricklink designer program sets! That's 15 a year and they mostly are very expensive sets. I love castle and would be buying some but it would also be nice to see more variety for other themes and subjects to spread the love.
Anyway, this round looks awesome and it will be tempting to get all five but wallet says I need to pick and choose.
@Bricky_Dee_Williams said:
"Not a single one of the excellent school, shopping center, opera house, or other modulars made it.
I’m disappointed, but it also means I have no obligation to buy anything from this round. "
I scrapped a mall a couple series ago but it’s nice to know there’s some demand for it. I’ll reconsider as it’s an idea I’ve always wanted to explore. Like a D2C City mall with the detail of a Friends set these days.
Super disappointed by the lack of Jonas kramm viking longship. :(
This round and most of the others badly lack affordable and high quality sets.
My wallet won't be opened for any of these. However, the train is my favorite of the five. That train is really cool.
The train looks quite nice, though I expect a pretty hefty price tag. Not interested in the other ones, even when all look like decent builds.
I LOVE castles (but not necessarily medieval), but these entries are not that exciting to me for some reason.
These all look very nice of course and huge respect for the talent of the designers, but overall a lot of the Bricklink sets are starting to feel very same-y to me.
Dang. I was hoping for the roundhouse w/ turntable.
Lots of ... brown!
Wild West Train for the win! Instabuy...
I learned my lesson after participating in the first 3 waves. Without printed instructions a major part of the pleasure of building is gone. These are beautiful sets, some of which I might have bought 2 or 3 years ago despite the cost, but I'm done with that.
The only one I really like is the Wild West Train.
Probably not quite enough to buy though, mainly because it's 2 of the next batch, 'Mushroom House' and 'Brick Cross' that I've really got my eye on and I expect the latter to be quite pricey!
Firstly, these are all beautiful designs, and I suspect will represent a decent range of prices, including more affordable sets (e.g. the Siege Encampment).
Secondly, thank goodness that none of them fit my (modern) Lego City aesthetic, and are orientated towards Medieval and Wild West themes, because I don't think my wallet will be able to cope any further with these Design Programs (since I have my heart set on one set from both Round Two and Round Three). That said, that Wild West Train is really tempting.
@thor96 said:
"Wow, @llucky got second set to be produced in BDP, congrats!!!
I must say, all of them look tempting! "
I wonder if llucky is the same as the similar username behind the "Cooking With Wormtail" brickfilms from years and years ago.
@Thanisse said:
" @SmilingCyclops said:
"TWO castle sets, and one more mostly-castle-compatible. Good times for medieval fans."
this makes me happy, but also means we might not have any other lego castle sets released by lego (sad face). "
Agree. The ones with new colours, molds, and minifigures. Battle packs, smaller sets, nice useful fillers. What a bummer!
Mainly castle sets it is and another western set, so thats an easy pass for me. A shame though because i am eager to spend money on a bricklink set! Always same ol' grey castle blocks.. Seems like most people which voteing are castle fans.. Otherwise i have no explanation to this outcome.
Isnt there any space themed moc creators out there somewhere!? I know the human race should rather take a step back from all this futuristic digitalizing and a.i. Robots and such but why is the lego comunity wanting this long lost theme of medieval times so much? I was in the impression that the vast majority of people tend to be all pro for the future and stuff.. Not in the world of building with lego bricks?
Maybe in the end i am proofed wrong... Electric cars or intergalactic spaceships? No way, give me a horse and a lance!
I like both the merchant boat and the Riverside Scholars, but probably only get the Riverside Scholars because of open flowing nature and colors of the build.
@Oli said:
"Mainly castle sets it is and another western set, so thats an easy pass for me. A shame though because i am eager to spend money on a bricklink set! Always same ol' grey castle blocks.. Seems like most people which voteing are castle fans.. Otherwise i have no explanation to this outcome.
Isnt there any space themed moc creators out there somewhere!? I know the human race should rather take a step back from all this futuristic digitalizing and a.i. Robots and such but why is the lego comunity wanting this long lost theme of medieval times so much? I was in the impression that the vast majority of people tend to be all pro for the future and stuff.. Not in the world of building with lego bricks?
Maybe in the end i am proofed wrong... Electric cars or intergalactic spaceships? No way, give me a horse and a lance!"
I did post some space stuff here and there (think classic space but in the style of 10497: neo classic space I guess)). I get seriously good commentaries and praises from casual observers but I never pass through the Lego preselection. So.... I guess I'm not the only one 'space' guy in that situation. Just in the last Lego space challenge, there were quite a few outstanding submissions in there (if you like classic space that is) - they did not make it through the Lego selection - I do not consider baby space as classic space - in fact, nothing can be further away from it than space baby (which was first release in 2023).
I really like the seaside market & voted for it & will probably set an alarm to try and get a copy when it opens for crowdfunding, but am sad that a lot of the < 800-900 piece models I also liked & voted for didn’t make the cut.
Nothing in the previous round or the next round really appealed, but it will be interesting to see how the pre-orders go and if they lift the cap at all
Wild West Train is good but Merchant Boat is the most interesting to me.
Was there some sort of nepotism going on? 3 of the series 4 winners are repeats from series 1, and two of the highest commented and presumably most voted on sets didnt make the cut. Both the japanese ramen shop and the aquarium were 100x better than any of the other series 4 winners
@HOBBES said:
" @Oli said:
"Mainly castle sets it is and another western set, so thats an easy pass for me. A shame though because i am eager to spend money on a bricklink set! Always same ol' grey castle blocks.. Seems like most people which voteing are castle fans.. Otherwise i have no explanation to this outcome.
Isnt there any space themed moc creators out there somewhere!? I know the human race should rather take a step back from all this futuristic digitalizing and a.i. Robots and such but why is the lego comunity wanting this long lost theme of medieval times so much? I was in the impression that the vast majority of people tend to be all pro for the future and stuff.. Not in the world of building with lego bricks?
Maybe in the end i am proofed wrong... Electric cars or intergalactic spaceships? No way, give me a horse and a lance!"
I did post some space stuff here and there (think classic space but in the style of 10497: neo classic space I guess)). I get seriously good commentaries and praises from casual observers but I never pass through the Lego preselection. So.... I guess I'm not the only one 'space' guy in that situation. Just in the last Lego space challenge, there were quite a few outstanding submissions in there (if you like classic space that is) - they did not make it through the Lego selection - I do not consider baby space as classic space - in fact, nothing can be further away from it than space baby (which was first release in 2023). "
Actually we had enough neo-classic space for now as well in my opinion. There have been so so many great space themes until 2013. I think its time also for the gwp theme to go further than classic or this one blacktron stickerfest gwp.. How about m-tron, Space police or futuron!? To be honest i like all space themes, but the classic one the least (It has no neon coloured panels and stuff) plus the classic space figure is outdated to me. I am also not drawn to these baby astronauts.
I would love some kind of set remakes from blacktron 2 or Ice Planet. That would rock my world! Is it possible to submit a ice planet moc or will it be doomed to the fact that we had ice planet over 30years ago? I would realy like to submit my mocs as well but i do not know and probably never will how to use a program which can create instructions. I think the whole process isnt for me. If i am building, i am building, no computers smart devices what so ever. I enjoy the physical building and only that, almost every evening.
Holy goat, they look great!
…and being for sale for a few days at about £80 a kilo, looking is all I’ll be able to do!
- I’d better just try MOCs
While I like most of the designs chosen I find it a little sad that not at least one small or mid size set was considered.
Sure, these will sell, but I would have preferred a little more variation.
Personally I’m very disappointed that not a single city building has been chosen. There were so many amazing options this round. The chosen products are amazing on their own, and congrats to the designers, but I feel like only the boat is the most original in this series. There were so many original ideas like that elf palace, adobe house, sculptur workshop etc. Things we’ve never seen before.
and that's why AFOL shouldn't vote at all for future Lego stuff
so much of diversity eh? (except for the boat)
Glad a wild west train finally made it after all the Lego Ideas submissions, and I cannot wait to see a motorized version at a show. Seem to be missing out on some of the fantastic building moc's this time around in favour of more of the mass appeal castle theme, which suggests the contest should be split into say 3 finalists for each of the main themes to give more variety. They all sell out within a week so why only limited to 5?
Four more-or-less-castle-things and an old train. Anything new?
Nothing of interest. Quite disappointed. None of my favourites made it. I was hoping for at least 1 smaller sized set, as I'm not wealthy. But I have the Snack Shop to look forward too!
None of these are screaming 'Buy Me!' to me. I think the least appealing is the siege camp, but then I can't seperate the others until the train, which I think is the best of the bunch.
Disappointing to see more castle stuff when there were better ones like the Sushi restaurant or the Pirates imperial sets.
The best is the train which is a good option if someone missed 79111.
@Thanisse said:
" @SmilingCyclops said:
"TWO castle sets, and one more mostly-castle-compatible. Good times for medieval fans."
this makes me happy, but also means we might not have any other lego castle sets released by lego (sad face). "
I don't mind if LEGO holds off doing more big expensive castle sets for a while. I really like them, and I do want to have them, but space and resources aren't limitless. It's easier to skip Bricklink sets, at least for me, although these look tempting as well -- and I did pre-order the previous Bricklink castle set. But there is such a thing as 'too much of a good thing', and one or more 200+ dollar/euro Castle sets per year fit that description.
castle and train stuff again
Nothing here I really want
@BaconKing said:
"Is there going to be a castle theme next year since we have a space theme this year?"
TLG is missing out if they don't! There's clearly a market for it.
How AWESOME is that Black Falcon Siege Encampment by SleepsNight?!?!!
I would have done a Classic Space one if there were more trans-yellow elements, but there aren't many if any in the palette. That and no spacemen are currently being produced in sets.
@TheBigLegoski said:
"How AWESOME is that Black Falcon Siege Encampment by SleepsNight?!?!!"
About $250 awesome, I would guess.
That the aquarium didn't make it because of castle-mania within Lego is just really, really boring.
I really like the train since I've been getting into more Western themed stuff lately. However, always comes down to price and I can guarantee it won't be cheap. So I may have to pass on all of them. I've only bought a few in all of the series they've done. I have yet to break the seal on any of them, so I don't know if I should even bother buying any more since I won't be building someone else's MOC under normal circumstances. *shrug*
@Lamarider said:
"That the aquarium didn't make it because of castle-mania within Lego is just really, really boring."
Is it possible LEGO already has an aquarium in the roadmap?
My guess;
Medieval Seaside Market - $449
The Riverside Scholars - $349
Wild West Train - $349
Siege Encampment - $249
Merchant Boat -$199
@yellowcastle said:
" @TheBigLegoski said:
"How AWESOME is that Black Falcon Siege Encampment by SleepsNight?!?!!"
About $250 awesome, I would guess."
Mmmmh... that is not the sort of 'awesomeness' I had in mind.
Well I suppose with 2,637 Total parts it is probably not such a wild guess.