If you look at any of the LEGO related fan sites recently you have probably seen plugs for the Bricklink AFOL Designer Program. Back in 2018 I remember this program being announced and the initial response from the community was “huh?” Why should we submit designs for people to vote on and then if they get enough votes, the design gets made? That sounds a lot like the LEGO Ideas program. I will be honest and say I saw it come out and then ignored it. Thankfully, not everyone did… so let me give a quick explanation of how it works in case you haven’t been following this effort.

Over 400 designs were submitted to Bricklink by September 2018. Between November and January, LEGO and Bricklink got together to review designs. The review team ended up selecting 16 designs. Those designs were posted on Bricklink (here) in January. From January until 15 April 2019, anyone can go and vote with their wallet on one (or a few of the designs). If the design you vote on reaches the required number of votes by 15 April, the design goes into production (and you get charged on 15 April). From that point, Bricklink (not LEGO) will work on getting parts and putting the packaging together. Then they will ship (for free if you use the pre-order time) sometime in the May time frame.

I recommend checking out the Bricklink page to get more information on how this project works if it still sounds confusing. Also, the Beyond the Brick team did some press for the program as well. There are some good videos they made to include an interview with Jamie Berard (LEGO Designer), an interview with Tormod Askildsen (LEGO’s AFOL Engagement Team Lead), and then one with Russell Callender (BrickLink Catalog manager). Of the three, I found the interview with Jamie Berard the most interesting. One because it went through how he was selected to join the company and two because he talks about why the Bricklink AFOL program is cool. What it boils down to is that LEGO designers really have to put a lot of thought into how things are constructed and what techniques are used as their designs reach huge audiences across the world. With this program, the goal is not to go in and do major design changes to a proposed set. Since the program is targeted to AFOLs, they figure that AFOLs can handle some different techniques that are not allowed in official sets. To me, that is a big selling point.

Enough about the program, let’s talk about the designs. There is still over a month to go so you have time to put your pre-orders in. As of the writing of this post, 10 of the 16 designs have met or exceeded their crowdfunding goals. I voted for two and I’ll mention two that I deem as honorable mentions.

The first one is called Skyline Express by user Jazlecraz. At 1,373 parts and $139.99, it works out to $0.102 per piece. It’s a bit high, but not too bad. The coloring is very simple, but in my mind this set opens up a ton of possibilities for adding more track, stations, scenery, or even modifying the monorail train itself. The builder has posted that he’s working on instructions for adding an M-motor to the set so make it motorized so that would be a great addition. I don’t know about anyone else, but as I kid I always saw the LEGO catalogs with the monorails in them and was never able to get one so this I saw this as my chance. If you need a reminder, there was the Classic Space version (#6990-1 Monorail Transport System), the theme now known as CITY had #6399-1 Airport Shuttle, and finally another space version (#6991-1 Monorail Transport Base). This set is slightly different as it uses the rail from the Roller Coasters (#10261-1 Roller Coaster or #31084-1 Pirate Roller Coaster). The rails match the color of #31084-1 so you can get that set and use the rail to expand the Skyline Express rail. There’s also a small juice bar in the station with JüS spelled out in tiles (I even figured out how to get the umlaut over the U in there).

The second set I backed is called “Bikes!” and it was built by user mdt.maikel. This one is 529 pieces and goes for $49.99 which works out to $0.094 per piece. It’s slightly under the so called 10 cents per piece average, so not too bad. I like this set because it is something different. I’m a big CITY and Train fan and my goal is to one day have a house with a basement that I can take over with a large CITY display. This one is not in line with the usual stream of CITY sets that come out of the LEGO Group. There are a lot of official sets with cars, fire trucks, and police vehicles, but not one dedicated to bicycling like this set. It will definitely add a welcome change to any LEGO CITY scene.

Two honorable mentions that I liked, but didn’t end up backing.

The first is called The LEGO® Story. It’s by user BrickJonas and contains 1,442 pieces for $99.99 ($0.07/piece).. This one highlights the 60th anniversary of the brick and contains four different vignettes dealing with LEGO”s history from making wooden toys, to the first plastic bricks, to designing the models, and finally modern production. I thought this one was pretty cool, but alas I don’t have an endless budget to buy LEGO sets.

The second is called Eight Studs and it is by user kleinraum. It’s 1,393 pieces for $9.99 ($0.072/piece). This one is a modular living area in the shape of a 2x4 brick or two 2x2 bricks. If you check out the set’s page you’ll see that it can be customized to look a few different ways. Definitely check it out. It’s a cool design.

To be fair, I’m not saying that the other 12 sets I didn’t mention are bad models. I’m just showing you the ones that interested me the most. There are some great designs from some talented builders. If you aren’t interested in purchasing, be sure to check out what is out there anyways. Maybe next time when Bricklink puts out a call for designs you can submit yours.

Happy building!