The BrickLink Designer Program’s Castle of the Forest tips its hat to a classic LEGO theme

Brick Fanatics takes a closer look at the BrickLink Designer Program’s first round of potential LEGO sets, starting with Daniel Van Zonneveld’s Castle in the Forest.

The first of three separate rounds of crowdfunding is about to get underway for the BrickLink Designer Program, which will see 15 out of the 26 remaining models transformed into official LEGO sets. Five of the eight projects in this round – which kicks off on July 1 – will get the green light, dictated by which of them is quickest to reach a minimum of 3,000 pre-orders.

Medieval fans will likely want to make a beeline for Daniel Van Zonneveld’s Castle of the Forest, which arguably reflects the mood of the LEGO Ideas community more than any other project in this round, given the number of Castle-themed concepts currently reaching 10,000 votes. (The third 2020 review alone includes a whopping five different projects anchored around the dormant LEGO theme.)

Daniel – an adult fan of LEGO who resides in France – was inspired by multiple classic Forestmen sets to create his castle, and has integrated several of them across all three sections of the build. So while the roughly-2,000-piece model looks great on display, it’s also packed with play features, including an opening gate, a trapdoor and a secret escape passage.

You can see how all those functions play out by hitting play on the video above. Along with three Forestmen and a peasant, the minifigure line-up includes two Black Falcon knights, which means this build should also sit nicely with the recently-released 21325 Medieval Blacksmith and – to an extent – 31120 Medieval Castle.

Daniel notes on the project page that the build includes several stickers, one of which is an homage to not only his ‘first and favourite’ Forestmen minifigure, but also to himself by virtue of its added beard. Head over to BrickLink to check out more images of the build. You’ll be able to pre-order your copy when the first crowdfunding round begins on July 1 at 4pm UK time.

Stay tuned over the next few days, as we’ll showcase each and every one of the eight projects in the first round to help you decide which – if any – to pre-order.

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