BrickLink Designer Program series 9 finalists announced
Posted by Huw,
The five finalists selected from the 436 projects submitted to BrickLink Design Program series 9 have been announced. They are:
- Woodbrick Freight Depot by Mind_the_Brick
- Sleepy Dragon Inn by MarinBD
- Pumpkin Patch by Sofiebuilds
- Wild West Blacksmith by Ilucky
- The Fisherman’s Village by rocknbricks31 and GNbricks1331
Crowdfunding will begin in October 2026, and they'll be shipped in March 2027. So, a long time to save up and wait!
View photos after the break and let us know in the comments which ones you're most excited about.
Woodbrick Freight Depot
Sleepy Dragon Inn
Pumpkin Patch
Wild West Blacksmith
The Fisherman’s Village
77 likes
56 comments on this article
Train related? Check
Castle related? Check
Wild West related? Check
Wouldn't it be easier to just reserve a slot for each of these themes in each round?
PS: I like the pumpkin patch
Train station, castle, western, wharf and the one cheaper outdoors vignette. It’s not that they don’t look good but I feel like BDS is in a bit of a rut.
At least the Fisherman’s Village looks colourful and lively. I love the differential as a buoy though.
@kfr said:
"Train related? Check
Castle related? Check
Wild West related? Check
Wouldn't it be easier to just reserve a slot for each of these themes in each round?
PS: I like the pumpkin patch"
Would be nice to have a round without all these for once as much as I like a LEGO train it would be nice to see unique things.
None for me. This series has become nice MOCs but I prefer to build my own.
I haven't bought a BDS since the mushroom house, but the fishermans village is must have, will have to start saving on time! The freight depot also looks very interesting
Fisherman's village stands out for me. Sorry to say the others just look a little samey, having all been done before albeit slightly different.
@MisterBrickster said:
"It’s not that they don’t look good but I feel like BDS is in a bit of a rut."
Maybe it’s a case of people just liking what they like? Lego city has a lot of police, Star Wars has a lot of X-wings; if they keep selling then people clearly want them, right?
I don’t think I feel a need to own any of these myself, but they’re all absolutely beautiful builds.
I'm not sure about any of these. The freight depot looks like someone chopped the train shed in half. The dragon inn looks gorgeous on the outside but I'm not sure about the interior. I would like backs to the fishermans village. I'm not bothered about the pumpkin patch and I havent got any other western things except the train, so the blacksmith is not my choice either.
I only remember the dragon inn from the choices, I don't remember any of the rest and it is really disappointing that none of the brickset highlights or castles made it through.
There's none I'm particularly excited about, unlike the series that just shipped, I adore adventure in translyvainia, though I'll end up buying the village, the inn and freight shed.
Once again, originality was threw out the window
@stefwaffles said:
" @MisterBrickster said:
"It’s not that they don’t look good but I feel like BDS is in a bit of a rut."
Maybe it’s a case of people just liking what they like? Lego city has a lot of police, Star Wars has a lot of X-wings; if they keep selling then people clearly want them, right?
I don’t think I feel a need to own any of these myself, but they’re all absolutely beautiful builds."
Maybe. They are at least different to what’s otherwise on shelves. It’s just a bit depressing that we’re nine series in and I’ve yet to see one I’m even slightly tempted by.
I will say the quality of the renders on some of these is exceptional. I wonder how much that drives engagement.
The fisherman's village looks amazing.
That house should have been a medieval house without the usual knights and other cashgrabbing things. Although I do appreciate that the pumpkin patch is something else, it just doesn't look interesting at all. It's as if they had to choose a small idea, but the batch was so small it lacked a good one.
The fisherman's village looks really pretty though! That might be a buy if the price isn't too high
What do we get next? A cowboy vs knights set with a space faction? I'm surprised nobody has thought of that yet! Oh yeah, and of course also add some kind of train, that sure will get the attention! Don't forget to make them as big as possible, that sure will create the highest profit net
These sets will reach buyers before TheUnitedStrand have cut his hair
All of them are really nice looking but I do agree that they are similar to previous sets in the series. On the other hand, there are probably many who missed out on other sets.
I think my favorite is Pumpkin Patch because it's small, cute, and seasonal.
I also quite like The Fisherman's Village, but it will probably be quite expensive.
The others are great but quite similar to sets I own so they are probably a pass at the prices Lego will be asking.
These all look like winners to me.
I love that we are finally getting a decent Lego tavern with the inn.
The freight depot, blacksmith, and pumpkin patch are all decently-sized sets which fit my displays and don't break the bank.
The fishing village is great, and I'll undoubtedly get it. Yet, it's very disappointing that they are open in the back.
I have not been keeping track of these. I must say The Fisherman's Village looks amazing, so many nice build techniques and different angles used. Tempting.
But here it will most likely be too expensive for what you get again (about 20-30% above the Euro price) which is what have kept me from buying any BDP so far. Since it's pre-order only, there is zero chance of any discounts on these.
Yeah, I know, complaining about prices again. Sorry. But I just can't justify buying something like that when I can get twice as much stuff for my hard-earned cash if I pick other sets.
Really like the Fisherman's Village and love the homage it includes to a range of other Lego ships and coastal builds including the Ship in a Bottle, Endurance, Titanic and the lighthouse. I still have the Fishing Store built (and have the lighthouse) and think this village will dovetail nicely with those and the earlier BDP Harbourmasters office. And last but not least the colours remind of the Scottish village of Tobermory on Mull, site of the fictional TV show Balamory. Time to start saving now....
I'll only be after the Freight Depot from this round, which is a nice set, but there wee so many more interesting train selections on offer, that I can't help but be a bit disappointed.
No inteest in any of the others, but the Fisherman's Village does look nice...
Luckily there is BDP to fill the void of proper train, western, medieval/fantasy sets. That Fishing village is pretty darn cool too.
The fishing village is amazing. I'll be picking that one up.
Shame there isn't a castle this time around, but my wallet is grateful. The inn doesn't do it for me. Looks like it would appeal to D&D fans.
Having I the fortune to be able to pick one, then it will be the Woodbrick Freight Depot.
This will be the first (new) BL series I’m not getting any sets from.
@kfr said:
"Train related? Check
Castle related? Check
Wild West related? Check
Wouldn't it be easier to just reserve a slot for each of these themes in each round?
PS: I like the pumpkin patch"
Arrr you be missin’ the Pirates matey
My favorite feature is that when you remove the crane from the side of the 'WOODBRICK FREIGHT DEPOT' there is another set of steps hidden inside. Simple but shows nice attention to detail.
Odd that there are no photos of the rear of the raised rock section under the Gift Shop in 'The Fisherman's Village'. If it is just a solid rock wall all the way around that would seem like a wasted opportunity.
Out of all the incredible Castle models with Griffin Knights, Kraken Knights, and Snake Knights, they picked the INN?!
Bit disappointed with the pumpkin choice. I'm all for choosing the smaller sets every so often, but this one is just some plates on top of each other and a very rudimentary, although nice, little shop? I mean I think most people active on BL probably can build this straight out of their parts collection?
Size wise the Inn will fit nicely next to the blacksmith which is size wise out of place next to the LKC or medieval market.
I like that buoy... I might just have to steal that design! (It's too bad '66 Batman and Robin can't fit on it, though...)
Bummed that the Paradisa-ish art deco hotel wasn't selected. As others have said, these choices feel very samey to past releases.
Lovely builds and great inspirations but as a whole it's all just so 'brown'
Train station and fishing village are instant buys for me. Might potentially get either the blacksmith or the inn as well, but probably not.
I like the train one, but I’ve sworn off BDP sets. They’re just not as “finished” as regular Lego sets and the ones I’ve assembled have had some extremely poor construction techniques in places. The kicker was the logging train and trestle which was BY FAR the worst assembly process for the least stable set that I’ve ever built…and I’ve been building since the 70s!
I ordinarily don't pay much, if any, attention to the BDP stuff, but I like the Sleepy Dragon Inn. I also like the windmill on the Wild West Blacksmith.
Since I first saw the Fisherman’s Village, I loved it. In a previous series, the Woodbrick Freight Depot was my absolute favorite, and still is from this series. I’m a big llucky, but I don’t have that kind of room. With the Village costing around $400… I will not be able to get both of them. Really tough decisions. I also like the pumpkin patch, and will probably also get that on3 if I get the Freight Depot.
Amazing
4 of 5 I have voted for.
Only The Fisherman's Village I hadn’t consider before.
It will be very expensive series for me.
@BrickmanNL said:
"That house should have been a medieval house without the usual knights and other cashgrabbing things. Although I do appreciate that the pumpkin patch is something else, it just doesn't look interesting at all. It's as if they had to choose a small idea, but the batch was so small it lacked a good one.
The fisherman's village looks really pretty though! That might be a buy if the price isn't too high
What do we get next? A cowboy vs knights set with a space faction? I'm surprised nobody has thought of that yet! Oh yeah, and of course also add some kind of train, that sure will get the attention! Don't forget to make them as big as possible, that sure will create the highest profit net"
I think there was an entry that contained both some castle and space type figures set in an early round but it didn't get many votes. I remember clicking down on it. I doubt anyone would want such a build as it is neither one thing or another, and the figures are all generic PAB parts anyway so easily available without buying the set.
@CCC said:
" @BrickmanNL said:
"That house should have been a medieval house without the usual knights and other cashgrabbing things. Although I do appreciate that the pumpkin patch is something else, it just doesn't look interesting at all. It's as if they had to choose a small idea, but the batch was so small it lacked a good one.
The fisherman's village looks really pretty though! That might be a buy if the price isn't too high
What do we get next? A cowboy vs knights set with a space faction? I'm surprised nobody has thought of that yet! Oh yeah, and of course also add some kind of train, that sure will get the attention! Don't forget to make them as big as possible, that sure will create the highest profit net"
I think there was an entry that contained both some castle and space type figures set in an early round but it didn't get many votes. I remember clicking down on it. I doubt anyone would want such a build as it is neither one thing or another, and the figures are all generic PAB parts anyway so easily available without buying the set."
I had a submission in Series 7 called At the Beach Sandcastle that included all types of minifgis. I thought it would be an interesting concept to have them populate a sandcastle since we haven't ever had a LEGO minifig scale sandcastle - https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-7/2407/At-the-Beach-Sandcastle
@ALEXDTI said:
"Once again, originality was threw out the window"
Why don't you design a set for the BDP? I'm sure your design will be so unique that everyone will vote for it. You show them how it's done.
In all seriousness, it's mind-boggling that people keep making comments like these or about the prevalence of certain themes. The winning entries are selected based on popular consensus via voting.
People pick the entries they're interested in and would like to actually own.
If anything, I see it as a necessity due to Lego being creatively bankrupt. Their bestsellers are pretty consistently Ideas sets or lines that spawned from Ideas, like the Botanicals.
@kfr said:
"Wild West related? Check"
Unfortunately for me, not a native american set this time too.
and no, I will not buy a 300€ set for a pair of native american minifigures inside a wild west city building.
It's nice to see more positivity on Brickset compared to the livestream's youtube comments. But that's just the initial wave of understandably disappointed people. When there's over 400 submissions and only 5 winners, there's bound to be some disappointment.
If you ask me, BDP is at its best when it caters to niche interests and fills in niche gaps, AKA - doing things that Lego probably wouldn't do themselves. Even when I'm not interested in a set, I'm happy for those who are!
This series is especially exciting to me! Aside from the train in Series 8, I haven't wanted to buy a BDP set since the Western Train in series 4. Not that the submissions have been bad, not at all! But I only have so much money, and so I prioritize my favorite things. I am a city builder with an emphasis on coastal/harbor and trains. So imagine my excitement when both Woodbrick Freight Depot and Fisherman's Village were selected!
Woodbrick Freight Depot really is unlike anything Lego has made, and it is really important to us train fans. Lego has made plenty of train stations, but those were all passenger stations! I think the only time they ever made any sort of destination for a cargo train was 60052 , and that was just a crane with a few plates underneath, and a small building next to it (not that that's bad, I still love it!) But Woodbrick Depot is a full cargo destination, where freight can be loaded and unloaded. It has that old-fashioned feeling, which is a total plus! The little details are incredible!
I totally get that some Lego fans think that all of the trains and train-related sets are all the same. But the mindset of a train fan is very different from other types of Lego collectors. Model railroading has tons of options, and the granular details are always important. An 0-6-0 and an 0-4-2 might be identical to most people, but to us train fans they are different and each worthy of representation, haha!
Fisherman's Village was one of those sets that I really wanted to win, but didn't think it would. After all, the 4,000 part spot usually goes to castles. This time, Fisherman's Village beat out all of the castles, despite the stiff competition. Now I have to settle with the reality of wanting it, but knowing how much it will cost, lol.
Don't worry, everyone! There's still next round for a Griffin, Snake, or Kraken Castle to win! (I do wonder if the shear amount of castles split the vote at all, even though people can vote for as many as they want).
Also, I am interested in the Wild West Blacksmith, but for my own collection it is just a bit too large in scale. I was hoping the post office and stage coach would win. But again, sets of different scales appealing to different niches is all a part of the greatness of the BDP!
There should be annual awards to celebrate the wrong part in just the right place. The designers of The Fisherman’s Village deserve a nomination for that differential in red masquerading as a navigation buoy. Cracking job!
A bit disappointed by the Castle selection this round. While this inn is a decent design, there were numerous other Castle submissions this round that were truly breathtaking. There was even another inn whose exterior was much more interesting than this one (although this one does appear to have a better interior), and included minifigures from all of the new factions. I'm hoping some of those other submissions get resubmitted or perhaps posted on Rebrickable. Overall, I'm underwhelmed with this series. The Fisherman's Village is probably my favorite design selected, although I'm not sure I'll be picking one up.
@daniellesa said:
"There's none I'm particularly excited about, unlike the series that just shipped, I adore adventure in translyvainia, though I'll end up buying the village, the inn and freight shed."
Lego puts out hundreds of sets a year, earnestly, why would you spend a thousand dollars on sets you're not particularly excited about?
so happy that the freight depot is in the group of five.It will be a great addition to the old train engine shed from series one.Congratulations to MARIA that created both sets.I will certainly buy two sets.
I'm surprised by the Pumpkin Patch. It hardly looks like a model or a set, it's just a small structure dressed with texture parts, like a weak side model of a larger set that was givem more greebling than the norm. Did people just want a parts pack of gourds? I do appreciate a model from BDP that won't break the bank, but it looks insubstantial.
I usually do not buy sets from BDP but this fishing village is quite something and I would have to reconsider my stand about this 'theme'. It would be nice if we could have the reviews before the buying/bidding/reservation begins. We'll see, in 15 months my taste for it may once again have morphed into whatever Lego will be offering at the time.
If Lego would make train sets like that I would scoop them all. Of course, Lego is for kids but I'd like them to have a line (18 plus/adults welcome??) for nice/realistic-ish train sets.
Nothing good here tbh. One of the worst waves. I do hope they do well so I can resell them on bricklink lmao.
@jsutton said:
"There should be annual awards to celebrate the wrong part in just the right place. The designers of The Fisherman’s Village deserve a nomination for that differential in red masquerading as a navigation buoy. Cracking job!"
I didn't even notice that!
I think the builds here are some of the best BDP sets yet. Really great building techniques, aesthetics and so forth.
I especially like the Freight Depot and Wild West Blacksmith.
The blacksmith is great that it would fit in an Australian setting including our iconic iron windmill.
The blacksmith building is perhaps a little too big for my own tastes (I feel like the interior doesnt need as much open space inside) but it looks great and would be a nice set to start my Australian pioneer town MOC.
The freight depot as others have said is an awesome companion to Old Train Engine Shed. The sliding door is amazing, I love the crane build and its just something really useful for those of us who are city/town/modular fans + specific train fans.
The Fishing village is outstanding in regards to builds, so much to like. It's a complete set too that would look good along the waterfront of any MOC city (whereas Italian Riveria doesnt really fit with the rest of a display)
The dragon inn function that simultaneously makes the fire glow, minifigures 'dance' and bard 'sing' is excellent. I tried making a dance hall once with a bunch of spinning 4x4 round plates but wasnt sure if it would actually work so Id be interested to see how the designer made that.
Not a fan of the size of the dragon inn, I prefer mediaeval sets to be roughly in scale with LKC and similar sets (rather than Medieval Blacksmith)
But overall I'm really impressed and the designers should be very happy with their work.
So having said all of the above, I am puzzled and disappointed by all the hate these are getting.
The complaint is that they come from the usual themes.
My response is:
Well, maaayabbbeee its time for lego to actually recognise that these genres are popular and should be given more attention??
It is interesting people whinge about Castle, Trains, Space and so forth dominating IDEAS so lego sort of moved all of those to BDP and now people whinge they want these themes cancelled from BDP too.
Castle/fantasy is CLEARLY very popular and yet people still try and argue it's not. They also deny the reality that for well over a decade we had ZERO castle sets so yeah, castle fans are rather hungry for more right now.
The same goes for other themes like pirates, trains and wild west. The last time we got Western sets was the licensed Lone Ranger theme.
Given that most BDP series have featured a Western set, I dont understand why Lego hasnt released some sort of Icons Western set yet. An updated Fort Legorado or most ideally a full Western town would make a great standalone Icons set.
I was surprised the Western train wasnt an official set as it wouldve made a great companion to Orient Express and appealed to train fans, Western fans, history fans and town/city/general realism fans.
Some argue lego wont make Western due to the Native American controversy but I dont think that applies here because if that was a problem I doubt theyd allow Western sets at all on BDP (note that they have banned sets depicting fossil fuels, mining, military and even modular buildings).
Western appeals not only to fans in North America, but also places like Germany, Korea, Argentina, Australia, Italy, Spain and elsewhere.
People forget too that trains are not merely an interest of ultra train fans alone. Trains appeal to city/town/modular collectors like myself who just want trains for their layout even if we arent particularly knowledgeable or passionate about railways specifically.
The freight depot especially I wish was a normal release as a generic industrial set.
General buildings like Fishing Village are obviously particularly popular, we can look to the modular series, Old Fishing Store, Italian Riveria, even the French cafe which sought to have a middle ground between those.
A final note is that people will whinge that kids arent interested. I would dispute that (fantasy medieval remains popular and lego wouldnt have released two Creator 3 in 1 Castles + dragon + Viking ship if kids didnt like castle).
But the point is whether its Icons, IDEAS or BDP, these sets are targeted at adults. Full stop. We know that these genres strongly appeal to adults, *because they dominate IDEAS, BDP and have occurred in Icons for a few sets now*.
So, if people want to see other genres in BDP, then make lego release more sets from these sorts of genres instead of just ridiculing these themes' existence!
@Maxbricks14 said:
"The fisherman's village looks amazing. "
Yes, but if only it didn't have open backs… :'(
I don't think I'll be buying any of those sets, just as I won't pre-order any from Series 7… My wallet will be thankful, for once…
I can’t remember which sets I voted for but the final selections are worthy enough.
The train depot, imo, is the most complete entry and could immediately slide into any layout. I too was a bit put off by the open back buildings in the wharf, but it does seem to collapse upon itself quite a bit, making it easier to hide. I like most all submissions from llucky and the Blacksmith is decent.
IMO, the pumpkin patch seems overly dense and simple for what they’re likely to charge for it. And I tried and I tried but I just can’t seem to convince myself to like the Inn.
As for the continuing narrative about BDP only being glorified MOCs and every build being so iffy and fragile, I’d just like to say that it’s tiresome. Brickl Cross was a really enjoyable and sturdy (maybe too sturdy) build. The Sheriffs Safe is so much fun. And I can’t say enough about the sets from SleeplessNight.
Standard sets can and do face the same hurdles as BDP. I just finished Gizmo and was surprised at how fidgety some of the fur builds were and the direction to start a new bag before the previous one was finished.
I’m not sure I LOVE any of these sets like previous series but I definitely LIKE a few. But to be honest, I’m putting much more thought into receiving the great Series 6 and worrying about my pocketbook with Series 8. :o)
I've seen a few people say that they wish the Fisherman's Village had closed backs. I think the designers said somewhere that it does, it's just not in the pictures.
Really excited about a couple of these (Sleepy Dragon Inn and the Fisherman’s Village)! This will be my first crowdfunded series. Can’t wait!
Yet again we get no Space or sci-fi anything :(
Is that a sign that no-one actually wants Space or sci-fi? A sign that the people making decisions don't want Space or sci-fi? Or a sign that no one Space or sci-fi project has had wide enough appeal to work?