LEGO BrickLink Designer Program sales have all but stalled
Sales of the remaining three BrickLink Designer Program sets in the re-opened first round have seemingly all but stalled, suggesting the LEGO Group may have overestimated demand.
Following the accidental sale of 10,000 copies of 910001 The Castle in the Forest (instead of the originally-planned 5,000), the LEGO Group and BrickLink relaunched pre-orders for the other four successful sets in the crowdfunding program’s first round, giving them the chance to sell a further 5,000 copies apiece.
But while 910010 The Great Fishing Boat’s second batch sold out almost as quickly as Daniel Van Zonneveld’s 910001 The Castle in the Forest did the first time round, 910016 Sheriff’s Safe, 910017 Kakapo and 910028 Pursuit of Flight are all still available – and selling very slowly, at least compared to the other two rejected LEGO Ideas projects in this round.
You can see how close each set is to the total number of 10,000 sales over on the BrickLink Designer Program’s landing page. 910016 Sheriff’s Safe is sold out in South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, 910028 Pursuit of Flight is available everywhere except South Korea, while anyone in the 30 countries the program ships to can still order 910017 Kakapo – but none of their progress bars have moved very far in the past couple of days.
That essentially all speaks to the inherent issue with the LEGO Group setting equal production quantities, rather than allowing the market to determine the number of sets to produce based on popularity. While there are still plenty of users who’d love to pick up 910001 The Castle in the Forest, that option isn’t available to them – yet the anticipated supply for three of the sets may not even be necessary.
Such is the nature of crowdfunding, but it is slightly backwards to how the process typically works. Whether the LEGO Group will make any further changes for future crowdfunding rounds remains to be seen, but it’s already shown a flexible approach following feedback on the initial launch back in July.
There’s also still time yet for these three sets to hit 10,000 sales, as this stage of crowdfunding is open right through to August 31. Click through to place your orders if you’re keen on any of 910016 Sheriff’s Safe, 910017 Kakapo and 910028 Pursuit of Flight.
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I’d take a castle if they would produce more. I only found out after they were all sold out and none of the other interest me at this point as someone just coming out of dark ages who enjoyed castle, space and pirate in the 80s + with kids at Lego age. I have a lot of nostalgia for those older themes. I think lego is missing an opportunity from the pandemic of a lot of AFOLs rediscovering Lego and love to rekindle themes in more complex designs/techniques with historical themes rather than a lot of current AFOL driven sets available now without Minifigures ie art sets, large vehicles, helmets. Those just don’t do it for me. I do like modular buildings just feel too late to try to get into that.
I wanted to build a double-set copy of Forest Castle and buy 2 extra sets for my young kids to build when they get old enough. My computer broke and wasn’t running on the day when the sets went on sale. Fans call anyone who wants to buy more than 2 sets a “scalper” but I have a legitimate plan for 4 sets. And what’s wrong with internet toy shops stocking up to sell these sets anyway? Why didn’t Lego offer wholesale? Why not accept every preorder for the castle and produce them over time? Lego’s only goal as a company should be selling new sets. Instead, they seem to not understand how basic market forces work. They empower scalpers by limiting set production and look like fools by trying to set an arbitrary production number for these less popular Ideas sets. Castle is the next fan favorite genre. Lego needs to take a hint from this (and Castle Lowengrin, which should be rereleased) and make a program where fan-designed castles are sold as normally stocking sets. Why pay people to develop disappointing sets like the 3-in-1 castle when fans have dozens of better designs? Why was an arbitrary 5k, then 10k number chosen in the first place? Why not simply fulfill every order that comes in during the preorder period?
It might be lack of advertising. Everyone who knew about the program got their order in early to try to beat everyone else due to the artificial quantity cap. The creator of the bird has advertised a bit, and his orders have jumped up by a thousand, while the other two projects have increased by a mere trickle after Aug 3.
Never mind, I read my notes wrong. All three projects have increased by only a few hundred after the initial Aug 3 rush. Still might be a communications issue.