BrickLink Designer Program round three crowdfunding starts now!

Anyone else getting a 404 for BrickLink right now?

I was able to get mine to go through.

@Vladtheb said:
"Anyone else getting a 404 for BrickLink right now?"

Yep.

Wow. Didn't expect the Train Station or the Chalet to skyrocket so fast.

@medleyj - I can confirm this as well. Ordered at 249 pre-tax (US). A GREAT Set at that price.

Orders placed. Train station and Observatory - but the Observatory shows as £179.99 on the Lego pre-order part

Right now it looks like only the ‘city’ sets will get funded. Looking like the space set will not, which was the one I wanted. Oh well.

Chalet reaches approval first!

Wow the chalet has been funded in 9 minutes!

And "Winter Chalet" appears to be the first to be funded, less than 10 minutes after the crowdfunding went live.

Currently looks like neither of the ones I'm interested in will get produced - ie Steampunk & Space Troopers. Works for me, makes it easier to get Optimus.

No dramatic surprises for what seems to be getting pledges quickly. Winter Chalet was a given.

9 mins 30 secs and first has been funded

£450k...

Order placed! Can't wait for shipping to me!

Mountain View Observatory for 209,99€

Train station funded 12 min in

"Studgate Train Station" appears to be the 2nd one funded, approximately 12 minutes after crowdfunding began.

@Alrighty said:
" @medleyj said:
"Mt. View Observatory is only $249.00. $260 after tax. Just picked it up. still shows $319 on bricklink but only $249 when you go to your cart to checkout"

Thanks for the tip! Decided to purchase one based on this comment. $249 for 3,800 pieces is a steal. "

if it helps get it funded, I'm all for helping since I already got mine reserved

And "1950s Diner" shortly after "Studgate Train Station."

I ordered the winter chalet, diner, train station, and mountain observatory. I usually get all 5 funded sets but anything contruction-related is boring to me. If the steampunk set squeaks by then I will get that one, but it's not looking good.

Mountain View Observatory has been ordered!

Observatory 4th funded.

Mt View Observatory funded in 17 minutes

17 minutes in, we have "Mountain View Observatory" crossing the finish line.

Now there's room for only one more: "Modular Construction Site" or "Steam Powered Science." (I'm rooting for Steam, because of the Steampunk vibe, but am wondering if the name change (used to be called "Exploratorium") hurt its chances somewhat?

The 1950s Diner for me! Happy with that :)

Anyone else getting the following message after placing order on their lego account orders page "Please contact customer service"?

Ordered the diner and construction site :) been waiting for the construction site since before round 1. Wasn’t sure it would be one of the first 5 but it looks like the 5 successful projects are already decided after 15 minutes :)

My orders went through right away without issues (I went in as soon as the sets became available). I was really hoping to get the Steam Powered Science set, but it seems like it is just going to miss the top 5 :(

At least the train station got funded.

Such a shame I don't have the money right now for the Mountain View Observatory as a large space and LEGO fan it really is a fantastic set to have and build.
Unfortunately, it will probably become very expensive later on.

Got me 2 of the Diner......can never have enough fast food

20 mins in and over £3mil spent...

@illennium said:
"I ordered the winter chalet, diner, train station, and mountain observatory. I usually get all 5 funded sets but anything contruction-related is boring to me. If the steampunk set squeaks by then I will get that one, but it's not looking good."

I agree with you. I did and will do the same. However, I am a bit tempted by the modular construction....

@Vladtheb said:
"Anyone else getting a 404 for BrickLink right now?"

Was able to get through after a couple minutes :)

Took only 22 minutes to have top 5 funded!

And the City theme takes it all. Not too surprising I guess, though disappointing.

@gaiathedj said:
"My orders went through right away without issues (I went in as soon as the sets became available). I was really hoping to get the Steam Powered Science set, but it seems like it is just going to miss the top 5 :(

At least the train station got funded."

Damn! The 5 projects have already been determined Steam Powered Science didn't make it :(

@tvjelle said:
"Such a shame I don't have the money right now for the Mountain View Observatory as a large space and LEGO fan it really is a fantastic set to have and build.
Unfortunately, it will probably become very expensive later on."

If they continue how the first 2 rounds go, they don't charge you until it is ready to ship, so if you have access to a CC you can order, and then work on saving up to get it until then, which i suspect will be early 2023

Lots of cool looking stuff, but way to expensive for me. It does though give as an idea though of why Lego did not consider them for official Ideas sets though, price is a killer!

Dang. Steam Powered Science didn't get it after all. Alas. Was always hopeful for the Exploritorium, but it did seem a long shot. Guess I'll have to go back to Ninjago for Steampunk stuff.

This at least allows me to focus on Optimus Prime.

I am wondering what conclusions Lego draw from this amazingly fast sales...

@Rogue10 said:
" @PluffTed said:
"Got me 2 of the Diner......can never have enough fast food"

Thought everything was limited to 1

"

I assume Lego will probably cancel one of their sets, or their order altogether.

Did the previous round charge at shipping or ordering? I could swear my fishing boat was charged only once it was ready to ship, but my card was charged immediately for the construction site (before it was funded). Now I'm wondering if I've been charged twice for the boat.

Studgate is a great design. The only things stopping my buying it is it's very big (bigger footprint than the Creator Expert Sydney Opera House).

And I am regretting buying the Venetian House from the last round.

I think Space Troopers would have done a lot better if the renders had shown off the features better. But they were too small, too blurred with simulated camera optical effects, and too statically posed to really show off all the cool features of the set. The description mentioned rotating engines - why didn't the renders show them? Why weren't there any decent close-up renders of the various modules attached and detached, or of the interior of the cockpit? The price-per-part ratio was just fine. The physical size of the set was just fine. It was loaded with play features. It looked kind of goofy, but that's ok. But it was a real hard sell because the pictures didn't show it off well.

The Big Four in-house genre themes are Space, Castle, Pirates, and Bionicle. Pirates didn't come up in the Bricklink Designer Program because of Barracuda Bay and the Creator pirate ship in 2020, so Pirates fans were already satisfied. Castle fans came out for Castle in the Forest. But Bionicle and Space fans didn't really back their horses once the starting gun went off. Castle for the win!

Edit - I'm not trying to set off a discussion of Castle vs Space vs Bionicle, etc, with that last paragraph, I'm just commenting in good fun. First-past-the-post systems like the Bricklink Designer Program are often compared to horse races. That's all!

@Otter said:
"Did the previous round charge at shipping or ordering? I could swear my fishing boat was charged only once it was ready to ship, but my card was charged immediately for the construction site (before it was funded). Now I'm wondering if I've been charged twice for the boat."

They don't charge until the product ships, but they likely placed a hold on your card for the purchase amount, which means your available credit is lowered, but you don't have to pay yet. At least, that is my understanding. I use Paypal and always have to get reauthorized at the time of shipping for these BDP sets.

Got the construction site and mt view observatory. The Observatory is quoted as 269€ for Luxembourg. But I got charged 219€. The construction site is correct at 269...which now seems too expensive ??

Shame that the waterfall was out of the race so fast.

@Schmopiesdad said:
" @Otter said:
"Did the previous round charge at shipping or ordering? I could swear my fishing boat was charged only once it was ready to ship, but my card was charged immediately for the construction site (before it was funded). Now I'm wondering if I've been charged twice for the boat."

They don't charge until the product ships, but they likely placed a hold on your card for the purchase amount, which means your available credit is lowered, but you don't have to pay yet. At least, that is my understanding. I use Paypal and always have to get reauthorized at the time of shipping for these BDP sets."

It's a "pending" charge, but it's definitely a charge rather than a pre-authorisation. I'll be sure to post if anything changes.

@Otter said:
"Did the previous round charge at shipping or ordering? I could swear my fishing boat was charged only once it was ready to ship, but my card was charged immediately for the construction site (before it was funded). Now I'm wondering if I've been charged twice for the boat."

Temporary charge before it gets refunded, is how it's meant to work. Then you get charged properly when they send it.

Edit: actually, "pending charge" sounds right. I don't think the charge ever happens.

@windjammer said:
"Studgate is a great design. The only things stopping my buying it is it's very big (bigger footprint than the Creator Expert Sydney Opera House).

And I am regretting buying the Venetian House from the last round.
"

Did you get it yet? I haven't. Also, wondering why the regrets?

Then again, I ordered 7 sets from BLDP (not counting this round), and have recieved bupkis.

Is there an article, what this BrickLink Designer Program is? Are these unofficial, fan-based sets or what?

Diner and Observatory ordered. First Bricklink sets to order. Kinda regretted passing in the pass.

@Yooha said:
"Is there an article, what this BrickLink Designer Program is? Are these unofficial, fan-based sets or what?"

https://brickset.com/news?query=bricklink%20designer%20program

@blogzilly said:
"Oh LORD I just spent way too much money on toys. I’ve got some serious explaining to do…

If you never hear from me again…tell the police to question my wife."

Same. I just said: this is future you problem now.

@krysto2002 said:
" @iwybs said:
"But Bionicle and Space fans didn't really back their horses once the starting gun went off. Castle for the win!"

When a horse enters the race we actually want to bet on, we will.
Granted, if this wasn't artificially some sort of stupid race to begin with, I can assure you the remaining sets would all reach funding thresholds with enough time.
But the notion that one fandom has to be arbitrarily faster or less discerning with its money to deserve anything is kinda silly.
Why is it always some sort of competition?"

I should clarify, I didn't mean that in any really competitive sense. It was a tongue-in-cheek, all-in-good-fun sort of comment. First-past-the-post systems are often compared to horse races, that's all!

@NatureBricks said:
" @tvjelle said:
"Such a shame I don't have the money right now for the Mountain View Observatory as a large space and LEGO fan it really is a fantastic set to have and build.
Unfortunately, it will probably become very expensive later on."

To be fair you don't need the money right now. If you can get the money for 10 months from now that will be fine too."

I don't quite get you what do you mean I have to pay now if I visit the Mountain View Observatory
want to pre-order.
and I only have 100 euro VIP points and no more savings on this monent.

Sweet I guessed the top 5 right the other week on my post on Bricklink! So excited to see they all made it. Got 4 of the sets and glad that the observatory came down in price. I still don't know why the other sets were 18% more than europe, but maybe Lego will still adjust the prices before they are sold officially...

Ordered the Winter Chalet.... Expecting the roof to open and play Edelweiss!

I completely forgot this was happening and didn't log on until all 5 had already been approved. Quite surprised it happened so quickly considering the relatively high prices of the sets.

I wasn't totally convinced by any of them but in the end picked up the Diner. As someone else has said the FOMO and not having to pay anything until next year helped convince me.

Got the staition and diner. That went smooth like silk this time around! Bricklink upped their game as far as ordering goes this round!

The price for the Mt. Observatory has been fixed, at least in the United States. If it hadn't, I was tempted to get the observatory in addition to the Winter Chalet.

Winter Chalet sold out.

I got charged full price for Mountain View, where'd you read it's only $250?

if only I had money

Amazing in 1 hour the first 5 project are funded
And at 20:17 one has already reached 74%, 3 are above 50% and the last at 44%
And I could order the 1950s Diner

EDIT
10 minutes later, the Winter Chalet is sold out, the 3 next are over 70% and the Modular Construction Site at 60%

I'm thinking of modding the Diner into Dex's Diner from AOTC.

@chrismckinney said:
"Winter Chalet sold out.

I got charged full price for Mountain View, where'd you read it's only $250?"

My receipt shows it cost 249.99 US dollars pre-tax.

@ogel_chicago said:
" @chrismckinney said:
"Winter Chalet sold out.

I got charged full price for Mountain View, where'd you read it's only $250?"

My receipt shows it cost 249.99 US dollars pre-tax. "

Cut directly from my order on Lego:

Item:910027Name:Mountain View ObservatoryShip Date:Status:In ProcessPrice:249.99Qty:1Total:249.99

I tried adding the Observatory again and it's been corrected to 319...wow. Someone in tech is going to get fired.

Damn, well... I hope they honor that price for you lucky ones!

I prefer official set design over MOC’s so it’ll be rare if this program ever interests me personally. But I’m glad that this is happening and it’s great to see the designers supported!

@StyleCounselor said:
" @windjammer said:
"Studgate is a great design. The only things stopping my buying it is it's very big (bigger footprint than the Creator Expert Sydney Opera House).

And I am regretting buying the Venetian House from the last round.
"

Did you get it yet? I haven't. Also, wondering why the regrets?

Then again, I ordered 7 sets from BLDP (not counting this round), and have recieved bupkis."

Nope not received it yet, I believe it will be towards the end of this year. Yeah I just got caught up in the excitement of it all, I remember there was a bit of a buzz around it, and got carried away and bought it. The exterior is quite an interesting design but it’s repetitive for the size of it (2 baseplates) the single colour scheme make it look plainer than a modular building, maybe the small building could have been a different colour or design to create some contrast. The interior looks like a modern new build and again, not diverse between the 2 buildings. Maybe I’ll change my mind when I build it :)

Well crap. I thought it started this Friday for some reason. The only one I wanted, Winter Chalet, is the only one sold out at the moment. Oh well

Are they cancelling the observatory order now? Order status changed to “waiting new stock” whereas other orders are showing as “in process”.

@Alpha_Tango said:
"The price for the Mt. Observatory has been fixed, at least in the United States. If it hadn't, I was tempted to get the observatory in addition to the Winter Chalet."

That "error" resulted in almost half a million dollars in lost revenue.

It'll be interesting to see how they handle the Observatory mis-pricing.

I didn't realize the price was lower than advertised or I would have order it and the price is back up to what it was supposed to be.

Are they going to tell folks at the lower price, that they'll have to pay more or have their order cancelled? It's nearly sell out now.

Still £179 for the Observatory in the UK.

@DrDaveWatford said:
" @yellowcastle said:
"Wonder what's going to happen with the observatory. I doubt they can come back at folks for the extra $70 and they're going to get gruff from folks that will now say they would have funded it had they known it was only $250. Someone is in trouble..."
I think they'll need to honour the 'discounted' orders and take the financial hit. Any other course of action will cause chaos."

It's not like they can't afford it, they've done great the past few years. Just take the hit, keep your goodwill, and move forward.

@sbpyrat said:
"It'll be interesting to see how they handle the Observatory mis-pricing.

I didn't realize the price was lower than advertised or I would have order it and the price is back up to what it was supposed to be."

The indicated price on BL has been the higher one all along. When it is in your basket on Lego.com however it shows the lower price - give it a check if you might want it

A little over 2 hours in- the top 3 are sold out or nearly so, and the train station will likely sell out in the next hour. Wow!

@bamaker said:
"Well crap. I thought it started this Friday for some reason. The only one I wanted, Winter Chalet, is the only one sold out at the moment. Oh well"

Keep trying, i tried to sneak a second chalet in for my winter village but jt just got cancelled so there should be more stock available as thise duplicates are weeded out.

@AndyB1 said:
" @sbpyrat said:
"It'll be interesting to see how they handle the Observatory mis-pricing.

I didn't realize the price was lower than advertised or I would have order it and the price is back up to what it was supposed to be."

The indicated price on BL has been the higher one all along. When it is in your basket on Lego.com however it shows the lower price - give it a check if you might want it"

When I first saw it on here, I put it in my cart at LEGO and the full price was coming up.

That's true!

@FoolECK said:
"Still £179 for the Observatory in the UK."

€220 in the Netherlands instead of indicated €270

This is pretty interesting. I remember round 2 where even cheap sets took quite a few days to be sold out. This time looks it will be over and done for all sets in a few hours time even though the prices are significantly higher (as the sets are larger).

I could have been persuaded to get the chalet with a little more time.?? But all's well.

Now if only I could figure out what Lego has fone to the Observatory order that has a strange status "waiting for new stock"?

@Voltron said:
"Anyone else getting the following message after placing order on their lego account orders page "Please contact customer service"?"

I get the same message. I hope the order will get through :/ I will call them tomorrow, customer service is closed for today, unfortunately.

Got myself the train station. Really wanted the diner and the observatory but missed 'em

Got the construction site and the station great additions for anyone building a city!

So was this date and time for these sets going online known before today ? If not were we meant to sit around refreshing Bricklink / Brickset all day every day to get these ? Wondering for future reference.

Train Station sold out as well! Now you can only order the Modular Construction Site!

@Murdoch17 said:
" @hardwax said:
"So was this date and time for these sets going online known before today ? If not were we meant to sit around refreshing Bricklink / Brickset all day every day to get these ? Wondering for future reference."

Bricklink had a sign up on their main page for several weeks with the date, and for a month prior to that with a general warning it was coming "soon"."

That's fair enough, I'll know for next time.

Was 'saving the date' and forgot about it. 1 hour later and the two I wanted are sold out. Oh well. Did nab my 3rd choice, the construction set.

@peterstorm said:
"Got the construction site and the station great additions for anyone building a city!"

I bricklinked the original construction site many years ago, it is an awesome build! Enjoy mate!

@hardwax said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @hardwax said:
"So was this date and time for these sets going online known before today ? If not were we meant to sit around refreshing Bricklink / Brickset all day every day to get these ? Wondering for future reference."

Bricklink had a sign up on their main page for several weeks with the date, and for a month prior to that with a general warning it was coming "soon"."

That's fair enough, I'll know for next time. "

This was it, as there is no guarantee it will come at some point: Only three rounds for this were scheduled, and about six projects got canned before being voted on. (all three Robenanne fishing village models, Japanese old style architecture, Anotomini, and Temple of Hermit were these projects)

@hardwax said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @hardwax said:
"So was this date and time for these sets going online known before today ? If not were we meant to sit around refreshing Bricklink / Brickset all day every day to get these ? Wondering for future reference."

Bricklink had a sign up on their main page for several weeks with the date, and for a month prior to that with a general warning it was coming "soon"."

That's fair enough, I'll know for next time. "

The announcement was a bit last minute with only a week to go but Bricklink did send emails and Brickset posted an article as well.

https://brickset.com/article/74854/bricklink-designer-program-round-three-begins-soon !

And with Round 2 having kicked off more than 6 months ago, I imagine I wasn't the only one refreshing the Bricklink page every week. Next up is to figure out when Round 2 sets might start shipping...

My favorite is the space-troopers one great design, overall appeal is fantastic and also has a nostalgic
feel to it.

I'm really sorry that it was the Mountain View Observatory that went through instead of Steam Powered Science. I thought the latter was much more interesting.

@Tom_Lux said:
"
Now if only I could figure out what Lego has fone to the Observatory order that has a strange status "waiting for new stock"?"

They sold 20,000 by mistake?!

One of my orders (I ordered each of the ones I wanted individually) has gone to "back ordered. Shipping in up to 60 days" That's a surprise...

Golly these went… fast. I thought given the higher prices they’d be slower this time. I had no chance anyway as I was only going to bid on the waterfall and that hasn’t appealed to many other people!!

The only one now available is the Modular Construction Site - the other 4 are sold out. It's a shame about Steam Powered Science - that was the one I wanted, and by the time I remembered this campaign was live, it was unfunded and blocked from any further orders ??

I was on Bricklink earlier looking at normal pieces, not even realizing this was happening today. No wonder I kept getting locked out. Wow...

Hope all gets what they want. I think I'm sitting this round out due to cost.

Was this round a global as opposed to regional based. Sure the last one was regional and they lasted a lot longer than an hour to sell out.

And everyone is happily forking over these amounts.... It seems as if Lego is but a tele-evangelist in disguise.

@Watsonite said:
"And everyone is happily forking over these amounts.... It seems as if Lego is but a tele-evangelist in disguise."

All Hail Lego, built to perfection. All Hail :)

@BigAraWalkedToMe said:
"I am wondering what conclusions Lego draw from this amazingly fast sales..."

My thoughts exactly...

@StyleCounselor said:
" @ogel_chicago said:
" @chrismckinney said:
"Winter Chalet sold out.

I got charged full price for Mountain View, where'd you read it's only $250?"

My receipt shows it cost 249.99 US dollars pre-tax. "

Cut directly from my order on Lego:

Item:910027Name:Mountain View ObservatoryShip Date:Status:In ProcessPrice:249.99Qty:1Total:249.99
"

Same here! That was an awesome surprise!

Geez I think this is the first round where 4 out of the 5 are already sold out on Day 1!

@drlmiles said:
"The only one now available is the Modular Construction Site - the other 4 are sold out. It's a shame about Steam Powered Science - that was the one I wanted, and by the time I remembered this campaign was live, it was unfunded and blocked from any further orders ??"

Only the first 5 to hit 3,000 orders get made. The others don’t. Everyone who ordered it will get their orders cancelled.

Is the main appeal of the diner the lower price point? I'm surprised that made it over some of the other options.

i wonder why they keep giving these such a big time frame to preorder when they've already seen how fast they sell; either increase the amount of preorders or decrease the time frame.. or both

@yellowcastle said:
" @hardwax said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
" @hardwax said:
"So was this date and time for these sets going online known before today ? If not were we meant to sit around refreshing Bricklink / Brickset all day every day to get these ? Wondering for future reference."

Bricklink had a sign up on their main page for several weeks with the date, and for a month prior to that with a general warning it was coming "soon"."

That's fair enough, I'll know for next time. "

The announcement was a bit last minute with only a week to go but Bricklink did send emails and Brickset posted an article as well.

https://brickset.com/article/74854/bricklink-designer-program-round-three-begins-soon !

And with Round 2 having kicked off more than 6 months ago, I imagine I wasn't the only one refreshing the Bricklink page every week. Next up is to figure out when Round 2 sets might start shipping..."

I had backed one of the projects on the Ideas site and was e-mailed that it was coming up for crowdfunding. That's how I knew about this latest round.

@Vladtheb said:
"Anyone else getting a 404 for BrickLink right now?"

I love that this was the very first comment

@ineedabrick said:
" @BigAraWalkedToMe said:
"I am wondering what conclusions Lego draw from this amazingly fast sales..."

My thoughts exactly..."

They’re probably thinking: let’s pour another $1 billion into the metaverse and build another worthless TikTok ripoff app.

Setting the alarm for 02:25am here in Central Australia paid off! Seems four of the five concepts I ordered and paid for made the cut. This iteration of the Bricklink Designer Program has seemingly gone smoothly. That said LEGO has clearly not anticipated or is not producing nearly enough for a market that wants this caliber of set!

Dang it! Just went to look at these and all but the Modular Construction Site are sold out! they went super fast thought I would have a few days to order not a few hours.

Looks like the contruction site is also almost sold out. The sets could all be sold out in less than 12 hours if sales on the contruction site don't stall in the next hour.

@AndyB1 said:
" @Tom_Lux said:
"
Now if only I could figure out what Lego has fone to the Observatory order that has a strange status "waiting for new stock"?"

They sold 20,000 by mistake?!

One of my orders (I ordered each of the ones I wanted individually) has gone to "back ordered. Shipping in up to 60 days" That's a surprise..."

Don't know where that 20000 comes from. I just said it had a weird status compared to the construction site. This morning both have the same status so I expect that's normal.

Well they all sold out pretty fast!, Round 2 took all day to sell out a couple and some never sold out.
This round with all the expensive sets sold fast!!.

LEGO Ideas x Target Fan Vote for Next Set
https://www.thebrickfan.com/lego-ideas-x-target-fan-vote-for-next-set/

click announce

Imagine the Emerald Train in the Studgate trainstation a long with one of my Hogwarts trains. Happy with this station, wich I probably turn into a 'winter scene' so it fits in my Winter Village, together with the Chalet, also on it's way.... Looking forward to next year for the arrivals. (still waiting for the fishing boat and the old mill from the previous round....)

I get the criticism of some of these builds being overly detailed, but I'm not seeing it on the construction site. It seems the most like an official LEGO set to me.

(Charge is still on the card for those following.)

Fortunately none of these were a "must have" for me. When I first logged in they were all still available and I was tempted by the Winter Chalet. The railway station is impressive but too big for me. The real deciding factor was the lack of instructions. These are expensive sets and they won't even provide a printed booklet.

@NatureBricks said:
" @tvjelle said:
" @NatureBricks said:
" @tvjelle said:
"Such a shame I don't have the money right now for the Mountain View Observatory as a large space and LEGO fan it really is a fantastic set to have and build.
Unfortunately, it will probably become very expensive later on."

To be fair you don't need the money right now. If you can get the money for 10 months from now that will be fine too."

I don't quite get you what do you mean I have to pay now if I visit the Mountain View Observatory
want to pre-order.
and I only have 100 euro VIP points and no more savings on this monent."

No credit card?

They put a hold on your account for whatever the cost is, but you don't need to pay until it ships. "

Or just use the "invoice" payment option. Then you won't need to do anything yet. Or does that not work?

I didn't order anything this time. A bit tempted by the Modular Construction Site though.

@Idasiv said:
" @blogzilly said:
"Oh LORD I just spent way too much money on toys. I’ve got some serious explaining to do…

If you never hear from me again…tell the police to question my wife."

Same. I just said: this is future you problem now."

"Working hard for the money,
So hard for the money"

.... it's go time!

Is it normal that my order for a set that did not make it to funding has had its status changed to 'backordered' instead of just being cancelled?

"Will be shipped by Mar 16, 2023"

That seems doubtful.

@Chilis_no said:
"The 1950s Diner for me! Happy with that :)"

Same here; I'm getting that one as well; looks like a nice set at an OK price. :)
The rest were too expensive to be relevant (for me, anyway).

I wonder how many copies of a $300 set The Lego Group will usually sell on average.

I can understand not wanting to have to part out and ship ALL of these, but if you're already doing the top 5, why stop at 10,000?

It seems like if they offered more of these (at the same price), the overall cost of production would drop for each set and they'd make a greater profit off each sale. (Obviously dropping smaller fractions of a cent for every set sold.)

I guess I really don't understand the reason for the 10,000 limit on these (or limits on things like the Ulysses Space Probe). I'd imagine there's a limited capacity to produce sets and that producing another 10,000 space probes means there's less time to produce some Lego City set...but I'd really love to hear someone at Lego try to explain this. The demand is THERE...so why the limit of 10,000? Why not 100,000?

Observatory has been stuck on "Just placed" since ordering yesterday evening. Also still don't have an email confirmation. Sigh.

Am I the only one has trouble understanding this program? I don't understand why only 5 set in each wave are picked. If you're crowd funding these with a minimum and maximum there shouldn't be a problem making all the hit the minimum. The fact that these are all fully funded in hours when the window is 30+ days tell me there is plenty of demand. If you hit the maximum in a given time period, say the first 72 hours, then you bump the max. For what is clear marketed at an adult audience they are leaving money on the table and I just don't get it.

@LusiferSam said:
"Am I the only one has trouble understanding this program? I don't understand why only 5 set in each wave are picked. If you're crowd funding these with a minimum and maximum there shouldn't be a problem making all the hit the minimum. The fact that these are all fully funded in hours when the window is 30+ days tell me there is plenty of demand. If you hit the maximum in a given time period, say the first 72 hours, then you bump the max. For what is clear marketed at an adult audience they are leaving money on the table and I just don't get it. "

Part of the reason it's being funded in hours is because it's limited. People like to own rare things. There was a reason Lego didn't make these into a mass produce "idea" set, this is just a side project to please some of the AFOLs that were sad their voted for set was not picked. Also, these are hand packed and such, so it's difficult to make tons of copies from each set. Having said that, nothing stops you from downloading the PDF and order the parts from Bricklink.

@AirandSpace said:
"I tried to be sensible and I only ordered the diner, but the magnificent train station eventually was too much temptation to resist. Including May the 4th, my monthly LEGO budget is at record levels of excess. Yikes. "

the same here :-)

@Poekie said:
"Observatory has been stuck on "Just placed" since ordering yesterday evening. Also still don't have an email confirmation. Sigh. "

Exact same for me. Fingers crossed it sorts itself out.

@PDelahanty said:
"I wonder how many copies of a $300 set The Lego Group will usually sell on average.

I can understand not wanting to have to part out and ship ALL of these, but if you're already doing the top 5, why stop at 10,000?

It seems like if they offered more of these (at the same price), the overall cost of production would drop for each set and they'd make a greater profit off each sale. (Obviously dropping smaller fractions of a cent for every set sold.)

I guess I really don't understand the reason for the 10,000 limit on these (or limits on things like the Ulysses Space Probe). I'd imagine there's a limited capacity to produce sets and that producing another 10,000 space probes means there's less time to produce some Lego City set...but I'd really love to hear someone at Lego try to explain this. The demand is THERE...so why the limit of 10,000? Why not 100,000?"

I mean, it sounds like you already worked it out by yourself, allotting more production capacity to niche sets like this means allotting less to general release sets with broader appeal and presumably better margins.

Could Lego sell another 10,000 Winter Chalets if they made them? Maybe. Will they sell all of the Ninjago motorcycles and City helicopters that they used that production capacity for instead? Absolutely.

I want the space troopers one!

@Binary_Code said:
" @PDelahanty said:
"I wonder how many copies of a $300 set The Lego Group will usually sell on average.

I can understand not wanting to have to part out and ship ALL of these, but if you're already doing the top 5, why stop at 10,000?

It seems like if they offered more of these (at the same price), the overall cost of production would drop for each set and they'd make a greater profit off each sale. (Obviously dropping smaller fractions of a cent for every set sold.)

I guess I really don't understand the reason for the 10,000 limit on these (or limits on things like the Ulysses Space Probe). I'd imagine there's a limited capacity to produce sets and that producing another 10,000 space probes means there's less time to produce some Lego City set...but I'd really love to hear someone at Lego try to explain this. The demand is THERE...so why the limit of 10,000? Why not 100,000?"

I mean, it sounds like you already worked it out by yourself, allotting more production capacity to niche sets like this means allotting less to general release sets with broader appeal and presumably better margins.

Could Lego sell another 10,000 Winter Chalets if they made them? Maybe. Will they sell all of the Ninjago motorcycles and City helicopters that they used that production capacity for instead? Absolutely."

In addition, there is all of the production costs associated with sets, pieces, etc. All of modern retail is based on strict timing. That's why a $200 sweater is only worth $10 a few months later. They need to make, move, and sell things as quickly as possible in order to make the desired profit.

The sets did very well this time around. Last time, was more of a mixed bag. Lego has obviously calculated that 10k is the optimal output. Perhaps that will change, or perhaps this was merely a one-off.

I can tell you this for certain. If there is any issue with the sale or delivery of your set, you're out of luck. They only make the 10k, no extras. Unfortunately, that was my experience with the kakapu and safe. Still waiting for the others.

@Brainslugged said:
" @Poekie said:
"Observatory has been stuck on "Just placed" since ordering yesterday evening. Also still don't have an email confirmation. Sigh. "

Exact same for me. Fingers crossed it sorts itself out."

My order is 'lost' by Lego. Asked about it on Twitter and they cannot find the order nor the reservation on my creditcard... I'm guessing no observatory for me...

@graafderk said:
" @Brainslugged said:
" @Poekie said:
"Observatory has been stuck on "Just placed" since ordering yesterday evening. Also still don't have an email confirmation. Sigh. "

Exact same for me. Fingers crossed it sorts itself out."

My order is 'lost' by Lego. Asked about it on Twitter and they cannot find the order nor the reservation on my creditcard... I'm guessing no observatory for me..."

Well that is sad. I haven't heard from Customer service yet but I guess it'll be the same for me. If hoped it was just stuck in review (to check I hadn't ordered more than one). On the other hand, now I have spent less money on Lego this month so yay, I guess. They keep making these stupid errors during high rush events. Time to not fall for it next time.

@graafderk said:
" @Brainslugged said:
" @Poekie said:
"Observatory has been stuck on "Just placed" since ordering yesterday evening. Also still don't have an email confirmation. Sigh. "

Exact same for me. Fingers crossed it sorts itself out."

My order is 'lost' by Lego. Asked about it on Twitter and they cannot find the order nor the reservation on my creditcard... I'm guessing no observatory for me..."

Well that is sad. I haven't heard from Customer service yet but I guess it'll be the same for me. I hoped it was just stuck in review (to check I hadn't ordered more than one). On the other hand, now I have spent less money on Lego this month so yay, I guess. They keep making these stupid errors during high rush events. Time to not fall for it next time.

@DrDaveWatford said:
" @yellowcastle said:
"Wonder what's going to happen with the observatory. I doubt they can come back at folks for the extra $70 and they're going to get gruff from folks that will now say they would have funded it had they known it was only $250. Someone is in trouble..."
I think they'll need to honour the 'discounted' orders and take the financial hit. Any other course of action will cause chaos."

My emailed receipt says I got it for the discounted price but looking at the backorder on the LEGO website it says the price is $346.39 ("correct" price + tax).

@Murdoch17 said:
" @hardwax said:
"So was this date and time for these sets going online known before today ? If not were we meant to sit around refreshing Bricklink / Brickset all day every day to get these ? Wondering for future reference."

Bricklink had a sign up on their main page for several weeks with the date, and for a month prior to that with a general warning it was coming "soon"."

Also, there was plenty of prior warning about Round 3 on Brickset, BrothersBrick, and Brick Fanatics, and other AFOL sites. All you have to do is become a Lego news, reviews, tips, nostalgia junkie.... The first taste is free. °•)